Living shadows wrapped around Oleandra, cloaking her in a veil of darkness. They twisted and writhed ominously, constantly shifting and making any approximation of her true identity a futile endeavour.
"Very spooky, Miss Tenebrae," said Mai, letting out a low whistle. "But this guise isn't exactly suitable for a rescue mission. Do you really think the Muggle-born will follow you out of the Ministry looking like that? They're rather skittish, from my experience."
"Oh, and I nearly forgot," said Oleandra thoughtfully. "Rookwood used to work at the Department of Mysteries. If he's got his old job back, he might have heard about the Shade incident, and he just might be smart enough to link me to that event…"
Seven years ago, an eleven-year-old Oleandra had found herself stranded in Niflheim, the World of Mists and of the Dead, after using the Philosopher's Stone to power a Realm Travel Spell and escape You-Know-Who's wrath. After who knows how long, she had managed to locate the exit in the Midgard Archway.
After being told by Broderick Bode's dead wife that the Veil would take her straight to the heart of the Ministry of Magic, the Death Room in the Department of Mysteries, Oleandra had cloaked herself in a shadowy disguise drawn from Perthro before making the reverse journey to Earth from the death realm. Thanks to this spell, she had managed to keep her identity secret while she had waited for her Tree-Portation Spell to work underground and whisk her away from the researchers and back to Hogwarts.
As for going through the Veil to rescue Sirius, Dumbledore had made sure to keep that event under wraps, so there was no need to worry about You-Know-Who learning about that. That is, unless Daphne had gone out of her way to tell him… but somehow, Oleandra doubted she'd need to worry about that.
"Then, how about this?" Oleandra suggested.
She relaxed her facial muscles, and her appearance reverted to that of Tonks's.
"You do know that if you use that face, and we make it out of this alive and win the war, you'll never receive the recognition you're owed, right?" said Mai softly. "You'll be remembered as the worst criminal and traitor the Wizarding World has ever known. You'll be hunted down for the rest of your days."
Oleandra closed her eyes and sighed. Perhaps this was her just desserts for what she was about to do to Daphne. She couldn't jeopardise her place at Hogwarts yet by getting identified, but neither could she in good conscience abandon this cause… for now.
"Nothing worthwhile has ever been obtained without sacrifice," said Oleandra quietly. "Better not to ask than to sacrifice too much. For a gift is always rewarded, and a boon always demands a return. Better not to offer than have to slay too many."
"So, that's your determination, eh?" said Mai, studying Oleandra closely. "You have changed, Lady of the Lake."
…
Once Oleandra and Mai were finished making their preparations for the upcoming battle, reviewing the layout of the Ministry's tenth underground level where Oleandra had left her blood mark, Mai gathered the Muggles in the centre of the football field to make a speech to raise their spirits.
It was all very inspiring, Oleandra had to admit. Mai even introduced Oleandra, though she used Tonks's name, since that was the face Oleandra was currently using.
"Well, we're off to find more allies, so sit tight, okay?" Mai concluded. "Try not to finish the last of the food in the tins, or we'll have nothing to duplicate for you to eat tomorrow."
She then turned to Oleandra and looked at her expectantly.
"Right, I knew I'd forgotten something," said Oleandra, snapping her fingers. "There's no such thing as Side-Along Tree-Portation, so I'll need to teach you the steps and poses, the Stadha. The hand signs, the Mudra, aren't going to be powerful enough to take us halfway across the country."
Mai's lip twitched.
"First comes Wunjo, the harmony, to avoid getting separated during transit," explained Oleandra, demonstrating the ᚹ stance. "Left arm to your side, legs together, right hand resting on top of your head."
...
"Then comes Berkana, the birch," Oleandra continued. "That's the medium I like to use to correspond to the World Tree with sympathetic magic."
Starting with her arms to her sides and legs together, Oleandra raised her right arm and right leg, making a ᛒ shape with her body.
Then came Raidhu, whose stance looked exactly like Berkana's, except with her right leg fully extended to make an ᚱ shape. Oleandra then turned sideways and extended her two arms in front of her and stuck out her left foot behind her, making Eihwaz, ᛇ, the yew tree rune representing Yggdrasil. And finally came the hourglass of time Dagaz, ᛞ, which she made by crossing her wrists in front of her heart.
"This is humiliating," muttered Mai, feeling self-conscious and deeply regretting gathering the Muggles for a farewell speech. "Should've known better than to trust you with this…"
Some of the younger Muggles started sniggering at the sight of the young girl dancing clumsily as she attempted to reproduce the older girl's poses. It was almost as if they had forgotten that they were laughing at Witches with the power to transform them into toads!
"As long as you get the stances right, you'll be able to piggyback on my spell," concluded Oleandra. "No, that's not right," she chided Mai. "Raise your right leg a little bit higher… no that's too high, go lower…"
"Your right or my right?" said Mai irritably.
"Your right."
Once Oleandra was satisfied with Mai's posing, she made her repeat the routine three more times to be safe, and only when she found her dancing to be satisfactory did she finally agreed to start casting. The last thing she wanted was to appear in the Muggle-Born Commissions' jails on her own!
"Follow my movements precisely!" cried Oleandra. "Wunjo, Berkana, Raidhu, Eihwaz, Dagaz! Let this acorn become a gateway! Open the door to the great beyond, and take me through the sea of stars to where I once stood!"
Oleandra locked onto the bloody mark she had left on one of the Muggle-born Commission's prison bars. Her magic reached into the void, opening a luminous doorway in space-time and dragging all three of them through…