Lenore McCrea, Domina Weather Witch -4

"That's the coolest thing ever," Kwet said. "If I do say so myself..."

The crest embroidered onto patches was a pretty thing, colorful in violet and black. Split into four diagonal areas like the Slytherin crest, but not separated by more than that. Several diamond shapes were placed on the top across it, there were scrolls on one field, an orb on another with a wand below it, and what looked like potion bottles on the bottom field. And in the middle, across the whole thing, spread a yellow and grey colored octopus. Its tentacles danced cleverly around each of the objects, as though House Domina's totem animal had its paws on everything in sight.

Which pleased Lenore and Kwet greatly - because they did have their hands in every pie they could get at. Specialize in nothing unless it's odd, never take the easy path, curiousity and boldness, adaptability... These things seemed apparent in the crest.

"I kind of wanted purple and pink," Zora said, "but I couldn't find anything about pink in any heraldry book."

"I didn't see any," Kwet said. "You?"

Lenore shook her head. "So purple it is. Nice choice."

"You get passing grades for this," Zora said, grinning. They finally went up the stairs to the dorm and entered.

"Say..." Lenore said, "is it just me or is the dorm bigger?"

"It's not just you," Kwet said, looking around at the rooms. There were four doors off their main common, instead of just the one. Private rooms, one bigger than the others where they as a group decided they'd be able to study or perform their homework spells.

"This is great," Leny said. "Aren't you happy?" She asked Zora. The older woman was still smiling, but since Lenore had been there the longest, and had stuck by her during the whole summer (and was now considered fifth-year, instead of third, because of her intense summer training) she could see the hesitation in her House head's eyes.

"Yeah - it's ... there is something else on my mind, Leny. Don't worry about it."

"Something about us?" She asked regarding the students.

"No, not really. Private matter." Zora said. She was being unusually quiet about her 'private matters' - very odd to Lenore. Usually, Zora was flirting with every single eligable male in the building - no matter their age, rank or station. This was new, then. Lenore wanted to ask about it further, yet the look on Zora's orange eyes told her to be silent. They got settled and arranged. Nothing more was said about it, until much later in the year.

It was this semester that just started, that Lenore at long last stood in the lines outside in the field near Hogwarts beautiful halls, and learned how to ride a broom properly. She was adept at it, quickly learning the tricks of remaining on a broom as it might buck or fall - but it was more rewarding to her to know that her own powers of weather working would be far more important to her in the long run. She would be able to play up in the clouds, some day - but for now, she remained where the cat-eyed professor and Quidditch referee instructed her to be.

Lenore didn't really want to get her own broom - after all, they were pricey, if bought at Diagon Alley, and she didn't have time to devote to making her own. Especially not after attempting to collect the wood needed out in the Dark Forest and getting detention for like a lifetime...

***

"It won't really be hard to get back. And if you want to stay, it's all right with us," Said Dumbledore to the gathering of House Domina students. He almost looked sad, but it was kind of hard to say because he always seemed somewhat tamely somber. When his old face brightened into a smile, everyone knew something good was going on. When he raised his frail voice, they knew it was bad. His voice remained soft, as he asked Zora, "would you like a lemon drop?"

Zora accepted, with a smile. But she noticed how he was quite ... guarded, in his presence at House Domina. The new House Domina, that is.

Zora decided that taking her time assembling a bunch of students, 'rejects' from other schools, of her own choosing had been a bold move - and one which the other professors at Hogwarts didn't much take to. Hence the new digs.

With some amount of coaxing, the now-auburn-haired Lenore, Kwet, and five other girls, plus one very -very- gay young guy were rounded up and brought out to the new northern House.

"So, it's your own School as well as your own House?" Asked one of the local men. He was a wealthy land owner, this place had been bordering his property for as long as his family had been in the area. He was glad to finally get someone in it worth having as a neighbor.

"It certainly is," Zora said proudly. A ghost wandered by, and hovered near. "Hi. We're moving in. Is that okay?"

"Is it okay!?" It said, gleefully, "you don't know how long it's been since we've had people to haunt!"

"Good. That's settled. Everyone? Get your stuff. We're gonna decorate."

The Hogwarts professors that had accompanied the group into their new locale pulled Zora aside, and were quiet enough that Lenore didn't get the chance to hear what they'd told her. It was perhaps somewhat telling that Snape wasn't among them - and Leny knew better than to think he didn't want to be there. Everyone knew the rumors were true. No one said anything - perhaps until recently that is.

Lenore wondered if this decision was actually a mutual one, to get them out of Hogwarts, or what.

But her worries left, when she noticed that big dark cloud of hers trying to reform over the new small keep. "Oh no you don't," she muttered. With a bit of concentration, aimed directly at the weather, it dissipated and she grinned. At last, after three years of hard study and even harder emotional flipflops, Lenore had begun to conquer her unconscious magic.

That might help - the house looked like it needed some cleaning and she could wash the whole thing down if she had a good cry over something...

***

When the word started to spread, several months after their arrival and after Zora's gathering of people into the School that was House Domina, that there were dragons to be found, Lenore eagerly listened.

The pair of extremely odd 'people' that Lucas had brought with him (was he totally spookier than Snape? By like about a hundred times? Yes, he was, and they would probably have gotten along famously if Lucas had been allowed in to Hogwarts any more. It looked to Lenore as though he and Zora had about the same kind of relationship going on too...) told the students and staff about this place and that, where they could find a dragon egg. Where they would maybe find a partner among the hatchlings. Smart dragons, ones that could talk or perform their own magic.

Lenore really wanted to learn more. She followed Svedok, the four-legged centaur dragon, down a corridor until he turned his long-horned head and looked at her. A chill ran through Lenore, but then he smiled and turned.

"You're very quiet," he said. "I usually hear someone come up behind me."

"Something about the air," Lenore said, offhand, "you know that storm outside is mine, right?"

He looked a little surprised. "You are a weather shaper. That is intriguing."

Lenore didn't hem and haw, the way she would have before coming to their new school. She said, "I'd like to know if there's a place I would get a proper dragon friend. That you know of?" Her voice went all high and hopeful.

Svedok chuckled, and his long tail swished around. "There might be. Would you like to see our notes? They are written in an old language, but there are many illustrations - you'd be able to see them, they are fairly self-explanatory."

"I'm okay with languages," Lenore said. "I could whip up a spell of learning."

"Then you may need to do so," Svedok said. "There are many places which would take you on, but you might not speak their language. Or, understand their culture." He chatted, more talkative than usual and certainly more so than his father. They walked down the tall corridor into the chambers where his father lived.

"Some places do not understand nor hold with magic," Svedok explained. "So you might not want to head there. Some are quite ... stuffy, about things like gender. They would try and pair you only with a dragon of your own gender, and you..." He looked her up and down, "might not truly benefit from that. I think you may belong paired with a male of some kind."

Lenore blinked slowly, and the storm front outside redoubled in intensity. She was after all, just over sixteen years old, almost seventeen, and had only been to two dances - had rarely had a date - in her recent life. Even the hint of a ... naughty encounter - even with a dragon like Svedok? Gave her hind-brain a bit more to mull over.

"You think so." Lenore said, finally. Svedok didn't seem to notice the look she'd given him. He wasn't all that human after all, was he? Well, he had a beautiful human portion, that was for sure...

Lenore shook her head and followed Svedok into a room where the records they'd been poring over were spread onto a wide round table. His winged sister, Lumiere, looked up from her stack of pages.

"Ah - another visitor." She said. "You'll find those over there to your liking," she waved her clawed hand at a stack of parchment with illustrations and words on them, which had been set apart from the others.

"Traditional, non-traditional?" Lenore asked, peering over Lumiere's wing-shoulder.

"Yes. I assume Svedok has told you about the differences."

"He did, and he thinks I would do better with a male friend." Lenore grinned. To her surprise, Lumiere glanced at her brother, then back at Lenore with a chuckle.

"He did, did he."

Svedok slithered out of the room, glancing back with a grin.

"It's his subtle way of telling you he thinks you're cute." Lumiere said, with a smirk. "I'd ignore him if I were you. He hasn't conquered shapeshifting or transmogrification yet."

"Well, neither have I. Maybe we should work on that together. After-school project." Lenore muttered, looking at the papers before her without really seeing them.

Lumiere said, "you should watch yourself around males, Lenore. Your emotions feed upon the needs of others - I can see that plainly enough in your aura." She fixed Lenore with a serious gaze, unblinking, "you will allow men to use you, and be happy with their abuses, if you are not very careful."

Lenore stood silently, wondering if she ought to laugh, cry or run away screaming. Instead, she chose to start looking through the paperwork on the big table.

***

"So this is the best place, you think?" Leny said to Lumiere, as they stood atop a hill, near a big castle. It was distant, but not as forbidding as the castles on her own world. Lenore still trembled with chill. The trip here - flying beside Lumiere on her broom, as Lumiere navigated them somehow between worlds - left her colder than she'd ever been but it was a brief, brisk darkness they'd traveled through.

"Now, when you've paired, I think these dragons have the ability to move through the Nexus as we just did." Lumiere glanced at the sky, where there were dragons already circling. "If not, I've packed you some instructions to get word to me. We'll be able to get you back, so don't feel like you're alone."

"Lumiere, I've been alone for three and a half years. I abandoned my home, disowned myself from my family, and got picked up by House Domina." Lenore looked at the castle, "I think this place will finally give me something that I've never had. Someone who I can trust to always be with me. And I'd never abandon them."

Lumiere smiled, her strangely angular face looking particularly beautiful in the light of this new world. "I think you'll do fine. There are some qualifications they ask for here, so are you ready to be tested?"

"I'm ready. I've got my wand, what's left of it anyway..." Leny held up the charred wand she'd been given, it proved to be a great focus - albeit one which caught fire with alarming regularity. And what with Lenore's penchant for calling lightning from the sky ...

"Then you should go. Remember, your time will pass here, and then we'll be coming back at a specific meeting point. Since there are more than one of us out there looking for dragons to pair up with."

"What about you, Lumiere?" Lenore asked. "Aren't you interested in bonding with a dragon?"

Lumiere paused, and her wings folded down a little. "I will do that, some day. Remember, Lenore, I am still but an infant to my dragon uncles. I've got six shell-bound siblings that have yet to even be birthed. These dragons here," she waved her taloned hand, "and many others like them, mature in only a year or two. It took my brother almost as long as you've been alive to hatch. This is all new to me, and ..." She grinned, "I'm going to be picky."

"Well, good luck then, do you think you're going to be paired off when we meet again?" Lenore asked. She noticed there were regular patterns to the dragons flying over head. They'd been seen flying in, presumably.

"Maybe. Well, I should go. My appearance might disturb the locals." Lumiere spread her wings, and vanished even before she got into the air. The area near her shimmered, Leny thought she saw the school in the distance through the light.

Then she turned her attention to the pair of people who were landing with their dragons, on the hillside.

***

They had such exotic accents that Lenore almost wanted to use her language spell. But then she got the hang of it. Just like that one movie, she forgot the name of it, where the girl started to learn how to pronounce things 'correctly' by over-doing it all.

"Mereeneh Aerie," Lenore breathed, the vast place echoed with wind. She followed the woman who had first come forward from her dragon - or Drahkahn as she said it - down into this amazing place. She mentioned how few people there were, and she wasn't kidding. Hardly a soul was to be seen, but there were dragons all right, the Drahkahn soared overhead and roosted in their individual nooks way up near the winds.

Lenore wanted to be up there with them. Her broom flight practice had left her with the taste for flight, surely, and the air around her would still crackle with energy when she willed it.

The woman said something to the effect of "what is your name?" And Lenore told her, "Lenore McCrea."

"LuhNOOR mahk RAY," She said, eyebrow going up. Lenore didn't know what her name might mean in their native tongue, but she also wasn't sure that it was anything good. That would be typical. "Oo gayt oor mahkehkel vrum PAHtahr," asked the woman.

".... I ... um, my what?" Eventually, Lenore managed to figure out that the woman thought her magical ability came from her father - something that her name seemed to imply. "Both my parents used magic," Lenore said, slowly and trying the accent on for size. This was going to take a while.

She worked for a few days on the language barrier, and finally got a chance to look around the Aerie more formally. Her room was spacious, but she suspected that if she'd come here to bond a Drahkahn, her location would doubtless change. The riders were few and far between. But the view from atop the place was fantastic.

"I'd like to become a Nominee," Lenore said, after about four days of this. The records keeper nodded, and shuffled her toward the nest. She was handed a big questionaire and left to wonder about what to write.

"Hmn. Date of birth." Lenore wanted to put March 12, 1987, but she knew better. There was another calendar to take into account. Her Arithmancy class was finally paying off... She wrote "approximately midweek the 2nd week of Spring... year unknown." Seventeen... Hmn. Lenore thought about it and realized that by their math, she was about 27 years old! Very weird! She was just guessing - did their calendar start with spring? Or winter? Or what?

Lenore filled out the rest as best she could, and hoped that she would be able to hang around. She'd have to leave, go back to House Domina, and she really hoped they would be okay with that. But she'd have to wait to find out what happened.

MEREENEH AERIE!

House Domina Logo is comprised of several PSP tube images available online, and my own work. It is in no way shape or form an attempt to infringe upon the 'official' Houses described in the Harry Potter books/movies. If you're in House Domina, you may use this logo! If not, get your own darn house!

House Domina Personalities
	Lenore McCrea, House Domina Weather Witch Six Months Ago Zora watched along side Kwet and Leny as the Sorting ceremony went on. They'd gotten one more student just in the first dozen arrivals, and there was a feeling that another was coming. Zora presented them happily with the House crest she'd assembled, when they got to the dorm area.
"That's the coolest thing ever," Kwet said. "If I do say so myself..." The crest embroidered onto patches was a pretty thing, colorful in violet and black. Split into four diagonal areas like the Slytherin crest, but not separated by more than that. Several diamond shapes were placed on the top across it, there were scrolls on one field, an orb on another with a wand below it, and what looked like potion bottles on the bottom field. And in the middle, across the whole thing, spread a yellow and grey colored octopus. Its tentacles danced cleverly around each of the objects, as though House Domina's totem animal had its paws on everything in sight. Which pleased Lenore and Kwet greatly - because they did have their hands in every pie they could get at. Specialize in nothing unless it's odd, never take the easy path, curiousity and boldness, adaptability... These things seemed apparent in the crest. "I kind of wanted purple and pink," Zora said, "but I couldn't find anything about pink in any heraldry book." "I didn't see any," Kwet said. "You?" Lenore shook her head. "So purple it is. Nice choice." "You get passing grades for this," Zora said, grinning. They finally went up the stairs to the dorm and entered. "Say..." Lenore said, "is it just me or is the dorm bigger?" "It's not just you," Kwet said, looking around at the rooms. There were four doors off their main common, instead of just the one. Private rooms, one bigger than the others where they as a group decided they'd be able to study or perform their homework spells. "This is great," Leny said. "Aren't you happy?" She asked Zora. The older woman was still smiling, but since Lenore had been there the longest, and had stuck by her during the whole summer (and was now considered fifth-year, instead of third, because of her intense summer training) she could see the hesitation in her House head's eyes. "Yeah - it's ... there is something else on my mind, Leny. Don't worry about it." "Something about us?" She asked regarding the students. "No, not really. Private matter." Zora said. She was being unusually quiet about her 'private matters' - very odd to Lenore. Usually, Zora was flirting with every single eligable male in the building - no matter their age, rank or station. This was new, then. Lenore wanted to ask about it further, yet the look on Zora's orange eyes told her to be silent. They got settled and arranged. Nothing more was said about it, until much later in the year. It was this semester that just started, that Lenore at long last stood in the lines outside in the field near Hogwarts beautiful halls, and learned how to ride a broom properly. She was adept at it, quickly learning the tricks of remaining on a broom as it might buck or fall - but it was more rewarding to her to know that her own powers of weather working would be far more important to her in the long run. She would be able to play up in the clouds, some day - but for now, she remained where the cat-eyed professor and Quidditch referee instructed her to be. Lenore didn't really want to get her own broom - after all, they were pricey, if bought at Diagon Alley, and she didn't have time to devote to making her own. Especially not after attempting to collect the wood needed out in the Dark Forest and getting detention for like a lifetime... *** "It won't really be hard to get back. And if you want to stay, it's all right with us," Said Dumbledore to the gathering of House Domina students. He almost looked sad, but it was kind of hard to say because he always seemed somewhat tamely somber. When his old face brightened into a smile, everyone knew something good was going on. When he raised his frail voice, they knew it was bad. His voice remained soft, as he asked Zora, "would you like a lemon drop?" Zora accepted, with a smile. But she noticed how he was quite ... guarded, in his presence at House Domina. The new House Domina, that is. Zora decided that taking her time assembling a bunch of students, 'rejects' from other schools, of her own choosing had been a bold move - and one which the other professors at Hogwarts didn't much take to. Hence the new digs. With some amount of coaxing, the now-auburn-haired Lenore, Kwet, and five other girls, plus one very -very- gay young guy were rounded up and brought out to the new northern House. "So, it's your own School as well as your own House?" Asked one of the local men. He was a wealthy land owner, this place had been bordering his property for as long as his family had been in the area. He was glad to finally get someone in it worth having as a neighbor. "It certainly is," Zora said proudly. A ghost wandered by, and hovered near. "Hi. We're moving in. Is that okay?" "Is it okay!?" It said, gleefully, "you don't know how long it's been since we've had people to haunt!" "Good. That's settled. Everyone? Get your stuff. We're gonna decorate." The Hogwarts professors that had accompanied the group into their new locale pulled Zora aside, and were quiet enough that Lenore didn't get the chance to hear what they'd told her. It was perhaps somewhat telling that Snape wasn't among them - and Leny knew better than to think he didn't want to be there. Everyone knew the rumors were true. No one said anything - perhaps until recently that is. Lenore wondered if this decision was actually a mutual one, to get them out of Hogwarts, or what. But her worries left, when she noticed that big dark cloud of hers trying to reform over the new small keep. "Oh no you don't," she muttered. With a bit of concentration, aimed directly at the weather, it dissipated and she grinned. At last, after three years of hard study and even harder emotional flipflops, Lenore had begun to conquer her unconscious magic. That might help - the house looked like it needed some cleaning and she could wash the whole thing down if she had a good cry over something... * When the word started to spread, several months after their arrival and after Zora's gathering of people into the School that was House Domina, that there were dragons to be found, Lenore eagerly listened. The pair of extremely odd 'people' that Lucas had brought with him (was he totally spookier than Snape? By like about a hundred times? Yes, he was, and they would probably have gotten along famously if Lucas had been allowed in to Hogwarts any more. It looked to Lenore as though he and Zora had about the same kind of relationship going on too...) told the students and staff about this place and that, where they could find a dragon egg. Where they would maybe find a partner among the hatchlings. Smart dragons, ones that could talk or perform their own magic. Lenore really wanted to learn more. She followed Svedok, the four-legged centaur dragon, down a corridor until he turned his long-horned head and looked at her. A chill ran through Lenore, but then he smiled and turned. "You're very quiet," he said. "I usually hear someone come up behind me." "Something about the air," Lenore said, offhand, "you know that storm outside is mine, right?" He looked a little surprised. "You are a weather shaper. That is intriguing." Lenore didn't hem and haw, the way she would have before coming to their new school. She said, "I'd like to know if there's a place I would get a proper dragon friend. That you know of?" Her voice went all high and hopeful. Svedok chuckled, and his long tail swished around. "There might be. Would you like to see our notes? They are written in an old language, but there are many illustrations - you'd be able to see them, they are fairly self-explanatory." "I'm okay with languages," Lenore said. "I could whip up a spell of learning." "Then you may need to do so," Svedok said. "There are many places which would take you on, but you might not speak their language. Or, understand their culture." He chatted, more talkative than usual and certainly more so than his father. They walked down the tall corridor into the chambers where his father lived. "Some places do not understand nor hold with magic," Svedok explained. "So you might not want to head there. Some are quite ... stuffy, about things like gender. They would try and pair you only with a dragon of your own gender, and you..." He looked her up and down, "might not truly benefit from that. I think you may belong paired with a male of some kind." Lenore blinked slowly, and the storm front outside redoubled in intensity. She was after all, just over sixteen years old, almost seventeen, and had only been to two dances - had rarely had a date - in her recent life. Even the hint of a ... naughty encounter - even with a dragon like Svedok? Gave her hind-brain a bit more to mull over. "You think so." Lenore said, finally. Svedok didn't seem to notice the look she'd given him. He wasn't all that human after all, was he? Well, he had a beautiful human portion, that was for sure... Lenore shook her head and followed Svedok into a room where the records they'd been poring over were spread onto a wide round table. His winged sister, Lumiere, looked up from her stack of pages. "Ah - another visitor." She said. "You'll find those over there to your liking," she waved her clawed hand at a stack of parchment with illustrations and words on them, which had been set apart from the others. "Traditional, non-traditional?" Lenore asked, peering over Lumiere's wing-shoulder. "Yes. I assume Svedok has told you about the differences." "He did, and he thinks I would do better with a male friend." Lenore grinned. To her surprise, Lumiere glanced at her brother, then back at Lenore with a chuckle. "He did, did he." Svedok slithered out of the room, glancing back with a grin. "It's his subtle way of telling you he thinks you're cute." Lumiere said, with a smirk. "I'd ignore him if I were you. He hasn't conquered shapeshifting or transmogrification yet." "Well, neither have I. Maybe we should work on that together. After-school project." Lenore muttered, looking at the papers before her without really seeing them. Lumiere said, "you should watch yourself around males, Lenore. Your emotions feed upon the needs of others - I can see that plainly enough in your aura." She fixed Lenore with a serious gaze, unblinking, "you will allow men to use you, and be happy with their abuses, if you are not very careful." Lenore stood silently, wondering if she ought to laugh, cry or run away screaming. Instead, she chose to start looking through the paperwork on the big table. * "So this is the best place, you think?" Leny said to Lumiere, as they stood atop a hill, near a big castle. It was distant, but not as forbidding as the castles on her own world. Lenore still trembled with chill. The trip here - flying beside Lumiere on her broom, as Lumiere navigated them somehow between worlds - left her colder than she'd ever been but it was a brief, brisk darkness they'd traveled through. "Now, when you've paired, I think these dragons have the ability to move through the Nexus as we just did." Lumiere glanced at the sky, where there were dragons already circling. "If not, I've packed you some instructions to get word to me. We'll be able to get you back, so don't feel like you're alone." "Lumiere, I've been alone for three and a half years. I abandoned my home, disowned myself from my family, and got picked up by House Domina." Lenore looked at the castle, "I think this place will finally give me something that I've never had. Someone who I can trust to always be with me. And I'd never abandon them." Lumiere smiled, her strangely angular face looking particularly beautiful in the light of this new world. "I think you'll do fine. There are some qualifications they ask for here, so are you ready to be tested?" "I'm ready. I've got my wand, what's left of it anyway..." Leny held up the charred wand she'd been given, it proved to be a great focus - albeit one which caught fire with alarming regularity. And what with Lenore's penchant for calling lightning from the sky ... "Then you should go. Remember, your time will pass here, and then we'll be coming back at a specific meeting point. Since there are more than one of us out there looking for dragons to pair up with." "What about you, Lumiere?" Lenore asked. "Aren't you interested in bonding with a dragon?" Lumiere paused, and her wings folded down a little. "I will do that, some day. Remember, Lenore, I am still but an infant to my dragon uncles. I've got six shell-bound siblings that have yet to even be birthed. These dragons here," she waved her taloned hand, "and many others like them, mature in only a year or two. It took my brother almost as long as you've been alive to hatch. This is all new to me, and ..." She grinned, "I'm going to be picky." "Well, good luck then, do you think you're going to be paired off when we meet again?" Lenore asked. She noticed there were regular patterns to the dragons flying over head. They'd been seen flying in, presumably. "Maybe. Well, I should go. My appearance might disturb the locals." Lumiere spread her wings, and vanished even before she got into the air. The area near her shimmered, Leny thought she saw the school in the distance through the light. Then she turned her attention to the pair of people who were landing with their dragons, on the hillside. *** They had such exotic accents that Lenore almost wanted to use her language spell. But then she got the hang of it. Just like that one movie, she forgot the name of it, where the girl started to learn how to pronounce things 'correctly' by over-doing it all. "Mereeneh Aerie," Lenore breathed, the vast place echoed with wind. She followed the woman who had first come forward from her dragon - or Drahkahn as she said it - down into this amazing place. She mentioned how few people there were, and she wasn't kidding. Hardly a soul was to be seen, but there were dragons all right, the Drahkahn soared overhead and roosted in their individual nooks way up near the winds. Lenore wanted to be up there with them. Her broom flight practice had left her with the taste for flight, surely, and the air around her would still crackle with energy when she willed it. The woman said something to the effect of "what is your name?" And Lenore told her, "Lenore McCrea." "LuhNOOR mahk RAY," She said, eyebrow going up. Lenore didn't know what her name might mean in their native tongue, but she also wasn't sure that it was anything good. That would be typical. "Oo gayt oor mahkehkel vrum PAHtahr," asked the woman. ".... I ... um, my what?" Eventually, Lenore managed to figure out that the woman thought her magical ability came from her father - something that her name seemed to imply. "Both my parents used magic," Lenore said, slowly and trying the accent on for size. This was going to take a while. She worked for a few days on the language barrier, and finally got a chance to look around the Aerie more formally. Her room was spacious, but she suspected that if she'd come here to bond a Drahkahn, her location would doubtless change. The riders were few and far between. But the view from atop the place was fantastic. "I'd like to become a Nominee," Lenore said, after about four days of this. The records keeper nodded, and shuffled her toward the nest. She was handed a big questionaire and left to wonder about what to write. "Hmn. Date of birth." Lenore wanted to put March 12, 1987, but she knew better. There was another calendar to take into account. Her Arithmancy class was finally paying off... She wrote "approximately midweek the 2nd week of Spring... year unknown." Seventeen... Hmn. Lenore thought about it and realized that by their math, she was about 27 years old! Very weird! She was just guessing - did their calendar start with spring? Or winter? Or what? Lenore filled out the rest as best she could, and hoped that she would be able to hang around. She'd have to leave, go back to House Domina, and she really hoped they would be okay with that. But she'd have to wait to find out what happened. MEREENEH AERIE! House Domina Logo is comprised of several PSP tube images available online, and my own work. It is in no way shape or form an attempt to infringe upon the 'official' Houses described in the Harry Potter books/movies. If you're in House Domina, you may use this logo! If not, get your own darn house!