The Witch Queen of Avalon
A Harry Potter UNIVERSE/ Sasporilla Bucket Fan Fiction
by Darren Kelly
Chapter 8
"What do you mean she's dead?" Lyra screamed, unable to hide her outrage as she slammed her fists on the table round. "How did it happen?"
"The Royal scepter rejected her." Professor Rikktor said. "Violently!"
"I don't believe it!" Angelo said unable to hold back tears from his angry face. "If anyone is worthy of being Witch Queen, over Bougenvallia Bent, it's my Sasporilla!"
"I'm sorry son", Professor Valentine consoled the young Wizard, "but we all saw it happen. Poof! Nothing was left."
"Forbordious Valentine!" Dame Splatterpalette chided the man for his lack of empathy. "Really?"
"Sorry boy." Professor Valentine apologized.
"Enough." Lyra insisted. "Sasporilla Bucket is, was my best friend. She fought to take down the Witch Queen when we failed."
"Because we failed!" Dame Phenix said solemnly.
"She did it to save you all in the end." Dame Hannah said.
"That she did." Lyra said allowing a single tear to escape and roll down her cheek. "Now I ask you, will her sacrifice be for nothing? Will we stop here? Will we cower now? Go hide in holes like rats or take the fight back to Bougenvallia? This time better prepared for attacks from all kinds of magic! Where is the girl who freed us?"
"Here." A small voice, like the distant chirp of small cricket sounded from the back of the room, sounded. The small Phillippina girl, her long black hair tied back in a ponytail, stepped forward nervously, her hand half raised.
"We could use a Technomancer in our ranks." Dame Lee-Ashwolf said. "You're not a professor but you have what it takes to take charge and get it done in a crisis. So I ask you... Kathleen?"
"Yes." The young woman smiled humbly.
"Would you join our ranks?" Dame Lyra proposed.
"I would be honoured." Kathleen smiled.
"Hand me your wand and take a knee." Dame Lyra Lee-Ashwolf said. "Repeat after me: “I, state your name, do solemnly swear and pledge my wand to the Knights of the Table Round, to defend and obey the needs of the people of Avalon until death shall take me, and to uphold the honor of knighthood.”
And Kathleen did repeat it proudly. Seriously.
"And I, for my part, Dame Lyra Lee-Ashwolf do swear to defend and honor our Sister Kathleen as befits a true knight."
Dame Lyra tapped her wand on each side of Kathleen's shoulders.
"In the name of Merlin and in the sight of God this day I dub thee Dame Kathleen." Dame Lyra smiled. "Arise, Sister Knight!"
There was thunderous applause as Dame Kathleen raised her wand high casting light for the dawn of a new day.
***************
There is no place to hide on the great plain of the wild lands. Small villages, spread far and wide talked of the great beast. Seeing it in the distance. It was gigantic! It slept mostly in the day and moved at night. It's path was clear. It's tracks easy to follow and predictable.
The Witch Queen's hunters gathered in village just inside a village on the edge of wild lands where the plains meet the great forest. This village would be the one the great beast would come closest to next.
"How will we recognize the beast my Queen?" One of the hunters had asked.
"It's the only one in the wild lands as big as a building you idiot!" The Witch Queen had yelled. "Just kill it! Before it gets here and destroys the city!"
It was late on the second day when one of the lookouts on the south side of the village spotted the creature loping across the horizon. The alarm was sounded and the hunters gathered.
Omnoptiscopes were trained on the great beast. It s gigantic form moved in shadow as the last light of day fell on the great plain. There was no question in the minds of the hunters the creatures path brought it this way, this night.
Traps had been set. Special weapons readied. Spells practiced that would destroy the great beast. The hunters were ready, though the people of the village fled in fear. They knew the great beast brought with it a great sickness, so when it passed they hid in a near by cave in the forest.
A crow cawed loudly beside a hunter annoying him.
"Be gone bird!" The hunter insisted trying to strike the crow with his wand.
'Caw-Caw-Caw!' The crow protested as it flew of into the tree tops.
"Stop swatin' at birds ya fool!" One of the hunters hissed. "You'll give away our position!"
The crow flew up high through the top of the trees and into the free air above the forest canopy. There he could see a large canyon in the plains you couldn't see unless you were almost standing beside it. The perfect cover for another large beast to have slipped across part the Great Plains unseen an up into the forest where he and his pink haired companion made camp for the night.
Blue lay in a clearing, of his own making, surrounded by trees and an small trickling brook. Sasporilla sat on a rock by the brook looking over her new wand, thinking about building a core tuner. The crickets chirped. The brook trickled past. The evening breeze wafted in the trees. Blue snored softly.
Sasporilla had to giggle. As the crickets chirped and Blue snored it reminded her of soft music.
"Chirp-Chirp-Chirp-Snore....chirp-chirp-chirp-snore." Sassy leaned back and listened to the rhythm and the flow. It came to her that the sound reminded her of Beethoven’s 5th symphony. "Chirp-Chirp-Chirp-Snore....chirp-chirp-chirp-snore."
Sasporilla looked at her wands core while she listened to the symphony between the crickets and her big blue friend. Taking in the addition of the other elements of the forest like other instruments in the symphony. The wind, the trees, the leaves. The hoot of an owl. The babbling brook. It all joined together in glorious harmony.
"What was it Beethoven had said?" Sasporilla mused. "How happy I am to walk among, the shrubs, the trees, the woods, the grass and the rocks. For the woods, the grass and the rocks give a man the resonance he needs."
"Or her!" Sasporilla smiled pulling her core taught but not stretching it between her fingers talented weaver fingers.
Sassy sat as calmly as she could becoming one with the resonance of the forest letting it flow through her and join with her. She slowly began to pull and twist the core, ever so slightly, until it began to glow. And glow it did! As bright as a freshly cast LUMOS in a dark basement! Sasporilla placed the core into the wand and joined it's halves together. A quick weave between the wood and metal joined them permanently and harmoniously better than any other wand.
Sasporilla waved her wand. It felt good in her hand, light but powerful.
"Time to test you out." Sassy smiled. "But what spell to cast?"
Caw-caw-caw came lightly from the distance.
In the waning light of dusk Sasporilla Bucket made up her mind casting "LUMOS!"
The Lumos spell she cast was bright! Very, very bright! It reminded her of how much brighter Dumbledore’s Lumos was over everyone else’s!
"Dumbledore's wand was rumoured to have been to elder wand," Sassy mused, " one of the deathly hallows. Could it be that death was a weaver?"
"Caw-caw-come quickly please!" The crow pleaded. "You are the one the world is whispering about are you not? The protector? The one true Queen?"
"I'm just Sasporilla Bucket," Sassy said humbly, "but I'll help if I can."
"Many wizard hunters have set a trap for NanWa." The crow cawed. "She is one of the last of the great Nundu that strides the plains. Yes she herself is a hunter. A great predator, but she is with litter. Those cubs will help to repopulate her species."
"These hunters?" Sasporilla asked. "Have they come to hunt the Nundu specifically?"
"No." The crow said. "They search only for a great beast, in the name of the Witch Queen."
"Oh do they?" Sasporilla smiled. "Show me where they are?"
The crow took off into the night sky Sasporilla, becoming as the trees and leaves following along as the forest primeval flowed until it touched the village
NanWa could smell the wizards in the village on the cool night air. The creature, akin to a sixty-foot tall cheetah, stalked low and slow along the ground. Like a large hill moving closer in the night. Her eyes seeing no movement in the dark village, but her nose was alive. She knew they were there.
"Caw-caw-caw" came a distant crow in the night.
NanWa ignored it. She prepared to run. To charge the village.
"Caw-caw- NanWa stop you fool!" The crow said! "It's a trap! The village is full of magi hunters!"
"They make no difference to me." NanWa growled. "They all taste the same in the end."
"Think of your babies!!!" The crow pleaded. "I have brought help! The protector! The one the world is whispering of!"
"The little Queen with pink fur?" NanWa asked.
"Yes!" The crow said landing on the Nundu's back.
"Then I yield to her help." NanWa said. "And if she fails... they die."
"Fair enough, I guess." The crow cawed.
Caw-caw-caw
"Damn crow." The head huntsman cursed just inside the village gates. "It's making enough noise. It bloody well not warn off our target."
There was a low growl outside the gate. Something large, very large by the sound of it. It had taken the bait and was just where they wanted the great beast to be.
"Now!" The head huntsman yelled as the gates swung open.
Nets were cast forth from wands and struck air. Multiple death spells were cast but struck dead air.
"Hold!" The head huntsman commanded holding his wand high. "Something isn't right here."
With careful steps forward the huntsman cast LUMOS SOLEM and lit up the night. A single small young woman, cloaked in blue fur with her hood up stood before him, less than a meter away. Surprised the huntsman jumped back dropping his wand. Stooping to pick it up, the young woman stepped on it. He looked up into her face as she removed the furry blue hood to reveal her long bushy pink hair. It was the girl from the witch Queen trials.... but how?
"You've come here to hunt a friend of mine." Sasporilla Bucket announced loudly. "You've done so on the Witch Queens orders. You've made a mistake with the creature you've found this night. She is not the obe you seek. She is with litter and under MY PROTECTION! AS ARE ALL THE BEASTS OF THIS WORLD FROM YOU LOT!!!! Now return to your Witch Queen with a message from me."
"She'll kill us if we return without finishing our task." The huntsman pleaded as Sasporilla snapped his wand underfoot.
"And if you hunt my creatures I will be forced, regrettably, to do the same... but I give you the choice. Just know the beasts the forest and all of natute is on my side. And even your Witch Queens best magical trap couldn’t kill me."
"What is your message." The huntsman hissed.
*************************
"What do you mean she's alive!" The Witch Queen screamed spitting out her morning pumpkin juice all over the Warlock Kings fresh morning robes. Much to his quiet displeasure.
"Yes my Queen." The lead huntsman confirmed. "Me and my men are expert hunters but she sprung our traps and attacked us. My men were lucky to escape with their lives! She was so vicious and wild!"
Oh really?" The Witch Queen said with grave doubt in her eyes.
"Oh yes!" The huntsman lied. "Why I'd be surprised if I see some of them ever again? I was lucky to escape with my own life!"
"And how did you manage that?" The Witch Queen asked walking over to the huntsman waving her wand with a playful smile.
"I promised to deliver a message." The huntsman swallowed nervously.
"Oh!" The Witch Queen said surprised. "Awfully civilized for a wild out of control witch? Well weren't you lucky? And to go from Huntsman to Royal Messenger in one day! Well then... best deliver the message then."
The Witch Queen stood with a pleasant smile on her face as the head huntsman stood, sweat pouring down his forehead.
"The pink haired witch said... " the huntsman gulped and closed his eyes. "Tell the Witch Queen her name is Sasporilla Imaginarium Bucket, she knows who you really are, and she's coming for you!"
The huntsman cringed, but no pain was forth coming. No death followed. Just a soft mad giggle. The Huntsman opened his eyes to see the Warlock King looking nervous but a tad relieved as Bougenvallia.... Giggled.
Het giggle turned to chuckle, and her chuckle to a full on laugh. Soon everyone was laughing with Bougenvallia Bent, the Witch Queen.
"She's alive!" The Witch Queen laughed. "And she knows who I really am! Fine!"
The skin of Bougenvallia Bent began to twist and tear. It became as tissue paper, tearing and falling away, a thin veneer to reveal the wooden skin crone beneath. The real Witch Queen, Baba Yaga.
"Hahaha!" Baba Yaga Cackled as the Warlock King fainted. "Then let it known. The true Witch Queen, the Baba Yaga has returned! Hahaha"
"What do you mean she's dead?" Lyra screamed, unable to hide her outrage as she slammed her fists on the table round. "How did it happen?"
"The Royal scepter rejected her." Professor Rikktor said. "Violently!"
"I don't believe it!" Angelo said unable to hold back tears from his angry face. "If anyone is worthy of being Witch Queen, over Bougenvallia Bent, it's my Sasporilla!"
"I'm sorry son", Professor Valentine consoled the young Wizard, "but we all saw it happen. Poof! Nothing was left."
"Forbordious Valentine!" Dame Splatterpalette chided the man for his lack of empathy. "Really?"
"Sorry boy." Professor Valentine apologized.
"Enough." Lyra insisted. "Sasporilla Bucket is, was my best friend. She fought to take down the Witch Queen when we failed."
"Because we failed!" Dame Phenix said solemnly.
"She did it to save you all in the end." Dame Hannah said.
"That she did." Lyra said allowing a single tear to escape and roll down her cheek. "Now I ask you, will her sacrifice be for nothing? Will we stop here? Will we cower now? Go hide in holes like rats or take the fight back to Bougenvallia? This time better prepared for attacks from all kinds of magic! Where is the girl who freed us?"
"Here." A small voice, like the distant chirp of small cricket sounded from the back of the room, sounded. The small Phillippina girl, her long black hair tied back in a ponytail, stepped forward nervously, her hand half raised.
"We could use a Technomancer in our ranks." Dame Lee-Ashwolf said. "You're not a professor but you have what it takes to take charge and get it done in a crisis. So I ask you... Kathleen?"
"Yes." The young woman smiled humbly.
"Would you join our ranks?" Dame Lyra proposed.
"I would be honoured." Kathleen smiled.
"Hand me your wand and take a knee." Dame Lyra Lee-Ashwolf said. "Repeat after me: “I, state your name, do solemnly swear and pledge my wand to the Knights of the Table Round, to defend and obey the needs of the people of Avalon until death shall take me, and to uphold the honor of knighthood.”
And Kathleen did repeat it proudly. Seriously.
"And I, for my part, Dame Lyra Lee-Ashwolf do swear to defend and honor our Sister Kathleen as befits a true knight."
Dame Lyra tapped her wand on each side of Kathleen's shoulders.
"In the name of Merlin and in the sight of God this day I dub thee Dame Kathleen." Dame Lyra smiled. "Arise, Sister Knight!"
There was thunderous applause as Dame Kathleen raised her wand high casting light for the dawn of a new day.
***************
There is no place to hide on the great plain of the wild lands. Small villages, spread far and wide talked of the great beast. Seeing it in the distance. It was gigantic! It slept mostly in the day and moved at night. It's path was clear. It's tracks easy to follow and predictable.
The Witch Queen's hunters gathered in village just inside a village on the edge of wild lands where the plains meet the great forest. This village would be the one the great beast would come closest to next.
"How will we recognize the beast my Queen?" One of the hunters had asked.
"It's the only one in the wild lands as big as a building you idiot!" The Witch Queen had yelled. "Just kill it! Before it gets here and destroys the city!"
It was late on the second day when one of the lookouts on the south side of the village spotted the creature loping across the horizon. The alarm was sounded and the hunters gathered.
Omnoptiscopes were trained on the great beast. It s gigantic form moved in shadow as the last light of day fell on the great plain. There was no question in the minds of the hunters the creatures path brought it this way, this night.
Traps had been set. Special weapons readied. Spells practiced that would destroy the great beast. The hunters were ready, though the people of the village fled in fear. They knew the great beast brought with it a great sickness, so when it passed they hid in a near by cave in the forest.
A crow cawed loudly beside a hunter annoying him.
"Be gone bird!" The hunter insisted trying to strike the crow with his wand.
'Caw-Caw-Caw!' The crow protested as it flew of into the tree tops.
"Stop swatin' at birds ya fool!" One of the hunters hissed. "You'll give away our position!"
The crow flew up high through the top of the trees and into the free air above the forest canopy. There he could see a large canyon in the plains you couldn't see unless you were almost standing beside it. The perfect cover for another large beast to have slipped across part the Great Plains unseen an up into the forest where he and his pink haired companion made camp for the night.
Blue lay in a clearing, of his own making, surrounded by trees and an small trickling brook. Sasporilla sat on a rock by the brook looking over her new wand, thinking about building a core tuner. The crickets chirped. The brook trickled past. The evening breeze wafted in the trees. Blue snored softly.
Sasporilla had to giggle. As the crickets chirped and Blue snored it reminded her of soft music.
"Chirp-Chirp-Chirp-Snore....chirp-chirp-chirp-snore." Sassy leaned back and listened to the rhythm and the flow. It came to her that the sound reminded her of Beethoven’s 5th symphony. "Chirp-Chirp-Chirp-Snore....chirp-chirp-chirp-snore."
Sasporilla looked at her wands core while she listened to the symphony between the crickets and her big blue friend. Taking in the addition of the other elements of the forest like other instruments in the symphony. The wind, the trees, the leaves. The hoot of an owl. The babbling brook. It all joined together in glorious harmony.
"What was it Beethoven had said?" Sasporilla mused. "How happy I am to walk among, the shrubs, the trees, the woods, the grass and the rocks. For the woods, the grass and the rocks give a man the resonance he needs."
"Or her!" Sasporilla smiled pulling her core taught but not stretching it between her fingers talented weaver fingers.
Sassy sat as calmly as she could becoming one with the resonance of the forest letting it flow through her and join with her. She slowly began to pull and twist the core, ever so slightly, until it began to glow. And glow it did! As bright as a freshly cast LUMOS in a dark basement! Sasporilla placed the core into the wand and joined it's halves together. A quick weave between the wood and metal joined them permanently and harmoniously better than any other wand.
Sasporilla waved her wand. It felt good in her hand, light but powerful.
"Time to test you out." Sassy smiled. "But what spell to cast?"
Caw-caw-caw came lightly from the distance.
In the waning light of dusk Sasporilla Bucket made up her mind casting "LUMOS!"
The Lumos spell she cast was bright! Very, very bright! It reminded her of how much brighter Dumbledore’s Lumos was over everyone else’s!
"Dumbledore's wand was rumoured to have been to elder wand," Sassy mused, " one of the deathly hallows. Could it be that death was a weaver?"
"Caw-caw-come quickly please!" The crow pleaded. "You are the one the world is whispering about are you not? The protector? The one true Queen?"
"I'm just Sasporilla Bucket," Sassy said humbly, "but I'll help if I can."
"Many wizard hunters have set a trap for NanWa." The crow cawed. "She is one of the last of the great Nundu that strides the plains. Yes she herself is a hunter. A great predator, but she is with litter. Those cubs will help to repopulate her species."
"These hunters?" Sasporilla asked. "Have they come to hunt the Nundu specifically?"
"No." The crow said. "They search only for a great beast, in the name of the Witch Queen."
"Oh do they?" Sasporilla smiled. "Show me where they are?"
The crow took off into the night sky Sasporilla, becoming as the trees and leaves following along as the forest primeval flowed until it touched the village
NanWa could smell the wizards in the village on the cool night air. The creature, akin to a sixty-foot tall cheetah, stalked low and slow along the ground. Like a large hill moving closer in the night. Her eyes seeing no movement in the dark village, but her nose was alive. She knew they were there.
"Caw-caw-caw" came a distant crow in the night.
NanWa ignored it. She prepared to run. To charge the village.
"Caw-caw- NanWa stop you fool!" The crow said! "It's a trap! The village is full of magi hunters!"
"They make no difference to me." NanWa growled. "They all taste the same in the end."
"Think of your babies!!!" The crow pleaded. "I have brought help! The protector! The one the world is whispering of!"
"The little Queen with pink fur?" NanWa asked.
"Yes!" The crow said landing on the Nundu's back.
"Then I yield to her help." NanWa said. "And if she fails... they die."
"Fair enough, I guess." The crow cawed.
Caw-caw-caw
"Damn crow." The head huntsman cursed just inside the village gates. "It's making enough noise. It bloody well not warn off our target."
There was a low growl outside the gate. Something large, very large by the sound of it. It had taken the bait and was just where they wanted the great beast to be.
"Now!" The head huntsman yelled as the gates swung open.
Nets were cast forth from wands and struck air. Multiple death spells were cast but struck dead air.
"Hold!" The head huntsman commanded holding his wand high. "Something isn't right here."
With careful steps forward the huntsman cast LUMOS SOLEM and lit up the night. A single small young woman, cloaked in blue fur with her hood up stood before him, less than a meter away. Surprised the huntsman jumped back dropping his wand. Stooping to pick it up, the young woman stepped on it. He looked up into her face as she removed the furry blue hood to reveal her long bushy pink hair. It was the girl from the witch Queen trials.... but how?
"You've come here to hunt a friend of mine." Sasporilla Bucket announced loudly. "You've done so on the Witch Queens orders. You've made a mistake with the creature you've found this night. She is not the obe you seek. She is with litter and under MY PROTECTION! AS ARE ALL THE BEASTS OF THIS WORLD FROM YOU LOT!!!! Now return to your Witch Queen with a message from me."
"She'll kill us if we return without finishing our task." The huntsman pleaded as Sasporilla snapped his wand underfoot.
"And if you hunt my creatures I will be forced, regrettably, to do the same... but I give you the choice. Just know the beasts the forest and all of natute is on my side. And even your Witch Queens best magical trap couldn’t kill me."
"What is your message." The huntsman hissed.
*************************
"What do you mean she's alive!" The Witch Queen screamed spitting out her morning pumpkin juice all over the Warlock Kings fresh morning robes. Much to his quiet displeasure.
"Yes my Queen." The lead huntsman confirmed. "Me and my men are expert hunters but she sprung our traps and attacked us. My men were lucky to escape with their lives! She was so vicious and wild!"
Oh really?" The Witch Queen said with grave doubt in her eyes.
"Oh yes!" The huntsman lied. "Why I'd be surprised if I see some of them ever again? I was lucky to escape with my own life!"
"And how did you manage that?" The Witch Queen asked walking over to the huntsman waving her wand with a playful smile.
"I promised to deliver a message." The huntsman swallowed nervously.
"Oh!" The Witch Queen said surprised. "Awfully civilized for a wild out of control witch? Well weren't you lucky? And to go from Huntsman to Royal Messenger in one day! Well then... best deliver the message then."
The Witch Queen stood with a pleasant smile on her face as the head huntsman stood, sweat pouring down his forehead.
"The pink haired witch said... " the huntsman gulped and closed his eyes. "Tell the Witch Queen her name is Sasporilla Imaginarium Bucket, she knows who you really are, and she's coming for you!"
The huntsman cringed, but no pain was forth coming. No death followed. Just a soft mad giggle. The Huntsman opened his eyes to see the Warlock King looking nervous but a tad relieved as Bougenvallia.... Giggled.
Het giggle turned to chuckle, and her chuckle to a full on laugh. Soon everyone was laughing with Bougenvallia Bent, the Witch Queen.
"She's alive!" The Witch Queen laughed. "And she knows who I really am! Fine!"
The skin of Bougenvallia Bent began to twist and tear. It became as tissue paper, tearing and falling away, a thin veneer to reveal the wooden skin crone beneath. The real Witch Queen, Baba Yaga.
"Hahaha!" Baba Yaga Cackled as the Warlock King fainted. "Then let it known. The true Witch Queen, the Baba Yaga has returned! Hahaha"
PLEASE REMEMBER
I am in no way affiliated with Warner Bros. or with J.K.Rowling. My work is purely that of fan fiction & do not ask for, nor accept money, gifts or other compensation for my work. If you really feel you must do something, donate to J.K.Rowling's charitable foundation LUMOS! Link below! ( https://www.wearelumos.org/ )
I am in no way affiliated with Warner Bros. or with J.K.Rowling. My work is purely that of fan fiction & do not ask for, nor accept money, gifts or other compensation for my work. If you really feel you must do something, donate to J.K.Rowling's charitable foundation LUMOS! Link below! ( https://www.wearelumos.org/ )