Cybele took the book with her when she went down for an early breakfast the next day, having decided to drop by Professor Snape’s office before the beginning of the classes.
She sat at the Ravenclaw table alone, and she was almost finished breakfast when Pete and Archie came down.
‘Hi Cybele. Why are you up so early?’ Archie enquired.
‘Hi! I want to see a teacher before class.’ Cybele avoided referring to Snape by name as often as she could, as to not draw attention to her special tutorials. She had done well so far; no Ravenclaw had wondered why she had gone to so many extra Potions lessons the previous year.
She was about to leave when Pete grabbed her book. She instinctively snatched it back, but immediately felt ridiculous. She had been reading it in front of them last year and there was nothing suspicious about it, but now she couldn’t help but fear that someone would spot it and immediately suspect her potential identity.
Peter looked abashed, but Archie spotted the title and smirked. He took the book from Cybele, who let him, and laughed.
‘Don’t be ashamed! I love this book too. Not that I read it anymore; I think I know all the stories by heart,’ he said.
It would be an understatement to say that Cybele was surprised. Archie passed the book to Pete, who smiled too.
‘Oh, my parents used to read me The Tales of Beedle the Bard, but I like these too. Hey, Cybele, did you know them before you came here?’
‘Do you mean that all wizards – all British wizards – know these stories?’
‘Of course! They’re our childhood bedtime stories. How do you like them?’ Archie asked.
‘Er, I’ve just read one. The Wandless.’
‘Very moral’ Archie commented. ‘Which was your favourite, Pete?’
‘Mine was Babbity Rabbitty in Beedle the Bard, but I like the Phoenix one in The Wandering Wand; you?’
‘The House-Elf one; used to make me laugh to tears.’
Cybele pretended to peer through the table of content and dared, ‘The Magi one, what is that?’
She was curious to know if among wizards, Magi were something familiar.
‘Oh, that one’s more mythological. It’s the legend of the origin of Magic and our world,’ Pete said.
‘You don’t have this story back home, Cybele?’ Archie asked curiously.
‘Uh, yeah, something similar,’ she answered vaguely. ‘Gotta go.’
‘Read them all,’ Archie recommended eagerly. ‘And then you’ll be all British!’ He winked.
Cybele smiled back.
‘I will.’
She put back the book in her bag, now feeling it was unnecessary to draw Snape’s attention to fairy tales he must have read countless times in the past.
Cybele was only more eager to talk to Eslis. The tale must not hold much truth, but she could not ask that to her friends without arousing suspicions or looking stupid.
Eslis came back to the girls with two mugs of hot chocolate. They were sitting in their pyjamas on the stone staircase of the kitchen. There were few Elves in the kitchen at this time of the evening.
‘Have the Misses spent a good holiday?’ he asked graciously.
‘Great Eslis, thanks,’ answered Cybele. They spent some time catching up on the semester break. Muggle London for Caroline, the Jordans’ for Cybele and House Elves activities during semester break.
‘Do you have a family, Eslis?’ Cybele asked curiously. It had stricken her that Eslis seemed to have spent all the holidays at Hogwarts.
‘Yes, Miss Cybele, my family lives her. They is Hogwarts Elves too. My mother and my father and my wife. Eslis’ family is serving Hogwarts since its foundation, Misses,’ he added proudly.
‘You must know a lot of stories from the old times, then?’ Caroline asked.
‘Yes, Miss, we do. House-Elves keep Hogwarts history. We is keeping Hogwarts’ secrets,’ he specified cautiously.
Feeling that Caroline was having it the wrong way, Cybele pulled out her copy of The Tales of the Wandering Wand.
‘Eslis, I meant to ask you, this tale about Magi, does it have anything to do with the Magian you called me?’ she asked plainly.
Eslis took a look at the book.
‘Yes, Miss, this tale tell the legend of the Magi,’ he answered.
‘So, when you said I was a Magian, you meant I was one of them?’ she asked, waving at the Tales.
‘Miss, the book is story, legend. Eslis say you are Magian. Real Magian.’
‘Can you tell me the difference between the Magi in the tale and a real Magian?’
‘I isn’t knowing, Miss,’ Eslis stated. ‘Magi in the tale are finished. But you are Magian, so the tale is not true,’ he elaborated, somewhat frustratingly.
Cybele tried to reformulate what the Elf was trying to express, unsure she had understood.
‘You mean the tale is not supposed to be real? Do you believe in this legend, Eslis?’
‘Eslis is not sure, Misses. There is a lot of versions of the legend, so I cannot be sure. But all stories say Magi is finished centuries ago. Even the legend that says Rowena Ravenclaw is a Magian says she was the last. But you is Magian. So Eslis doesn’t know.’
‘How do you know Cybele is a Magian?’ Caroline asked.
‘My kind know things about Magic. You are Muggle-born,’ he said to Caroline, ‘we is knowing that. Cybele is Magian, we is also knowing that.’
‘How, Eslis?’ Cybele asked.
‘We is seeing the Magic. It is different. Miss Caroline Magic, it doesn’t look like pure-blood Magic.’
Caroline grimaced at that. Eslis noticed.
‘Miss Caroline’s Magic is very powerful,’ he added quickly, ‘it’s only the look. It is more mixed with Muggle Magic. It is more rich.’
‘And mine looks like Magus Magic,’ Cybele concluded for him.
‘No, I is not seeing any Magic,’ Eslis surprised her again, ‘that is how I is know you is a Magian. Magi don’t possess Magic like wizards, they are it.’
Neither Cybele nor Caroline managed to make much more sense out of Eslis on the topic. It appeared that to Eslis, Cybele was a creature that came out of a fairy tale. Cybele tried to imagine a Muggle witnessing a Phoenix burning and being born again from its ashes in front of them. They would without any doubt know that they had just seen a Phoenix, even though they always knew they were a legend.
In the little hours of the morning, more Elves started to get busy in the kitchen again and the girls made to leave, realizing that the night had passed in conversation with Eslis.
‘Miss Cybele, you must be very prudent,’ Eslis started as they made to leave.
Cybele smiled. ‘You take care too, Eslis.’
‘Miss must be careful, Miss Cybele. To be a Magian is dangerous,’ he said.
‘Why, Eslis? Do you mean some people would want me bad if they knew?’
‘I isn’t knowing that, Miss Cybele, but being a Magian is dangerous, you remember, Miss? I says to you last year, be very careful with your friends.’
Eslis last year’s strange advice, Cybele had not forgotten, though she seldom gave it a thought. She could still hear Eslis repeating ‘cannot say was’…
‘Why, Eslis?’
The House-Elf balanced from a foot to another, uneasy.
‘I cannot say why, Miss Cybele, I is sorry. Be very prudent, you have no way back now, you can never chose. Terrible things happen when the natural rule is broken.’
‘What natural rule?’ Caroline asked curiously.
‘Everybody always has a choice,’ Eslis stated. ‘Terrible things happen when Magian isn’t having a choice. It is dangerous. Terrible things have happened in the past…’
Eslis stopped at this point and made a bee-line for the fire-place with a horrified looked on his face. Cybele stayed motionless a second too long, but Caroline was sharp and grabbed Eslis before he could step on the burning charcoal.
‘It’s all right,’ she said firmly, ‘we don’t want to know!’