Soren opened her eyes, yawned, and looked around her room. It took her a moment to remember where she was - why was there a fireplace in the corner, she wondered, and was the mirror talking to her? - but when she did, the happiness and surprise at being in the magical world came rushing back. She leapt out of bed, picked up the short wand lying on her bedside table, and ran out to the dining hall.

After she gobbled down a breakfast of eggs and potatoes, the bartender handed her a parchment. Opening it up, she read Dumbledore’s instructions for the day - they were to start learning magic! Soren dropped the parchment in the wastebasket and headed into Diagon Alley, then to the designated meeting spot outside Flourish and Blotts.

Shortly after her arrival, Dumbledore clapped his hands for attention.

“My young students-” not that young, muttered Claaws- “today you will be learning some basic charms that will serve you well. We’ll start with Wingardium Leviosa. Repeat after me.”

Dumbledore recited the incantation, circled his wand, and made Noon’s hat float into the air.

<mhat!> she complained. Smiling, Dumbledore lowered it back onto her head.

As the CBers tried (and failed, and tried again, and failed again) to learn the spell, Jarnen snuck up behind Breeze and poked her. Hard. Spinning around, she immediately launched into a tirade.

“I was paying attention you didn’t need to do that it hurt you’re so mean-”
At this point, Kitten and Leafpool both jumped in to quell the fight. As their AEs returned to the sidelines, they looked at each other and shook their heads. “Having the companions stand around with nothing to do was never going to work out,” commented Leafpool. Just at this moment, though, Voldemort raised his hand to make an announcement.

“All companions, I suppose you ought to come with me. You’re going on a tour of Diagon Alley.” The companions leapt up with joy and followed him away, seeming to ignore the fact that Voldy sounded like he was more inclined to kill off the whole bunch of them.

Asthene followed Voldemort into the main walkway of Diagon Alley, the other shoppers getting out of the way hastily upon seeing his glare and nose (or rather, lack of nose). She stared around at the bright shops on all sides, letting the other companions get a bit ahead of her. She was ripped out of her staring, though, by a harsh voice ahead of her.

“None of you get lost, or I’ll never hear the end of it from Dumbledore.” The rage with which he spat out the last name made Asthene wonder why Voldy would have agreed to work with Dumbledore in the first place. She listened to the warning, though, and pushed her way forward to just behind Tom Riddle. (The invisible narrators need to stop calling me Tom, thought VOLDEMORT angrily.)

Beside him, Zeke leaned in to whisper, “Hello there, sir. Question: Could AEs join your side when their masters aren't?” Asthene gasped loudly, but luckily Voldemort didn’t hear her in the bustle of the crowd. Mor did, though, and looked at her quizzically.

“Tell you later,” she muttered.

--

Tired after a long day of touring, spell-casting, and general amazement, Spiffycat trudged up to her room. She could already picture the nice, cushy bed, with silk sheets and down pillows that seemed to have an enchantment for a good night’s sleep… Her dreams were crushed, however, by Emerald Frost, who pulled her into the rooms, babbling excitedly about something Spiffycat couldn’t really gather.

“And-it’s-so-cool-and-you-have-to-see-it-I-think-I-need-your-help-it’s-so-”

“Woah, woah, slow down. What is it you’re so excited about?”

And then she saw the skull. It was old and mysterious and carved all over in ancient runes, and with just one look she understood why her AE was so excited. A moment later, she realized Emerald Frost was still speaking.

“-I was thinking we could pick it up together and look at the bottom?”

“Sure!” replied Spiffycat, running to one side, and the two of them slowly picked it up. Or tried to. The second their hands touched the ancient bone, she felt herself lose control of her body to some kind of other spirit. Her mouth opened, though she wasn’t controlling it, and made a weird sound, almost like a grunt. Her vision faded slowly until all that was left was a shell of her, hiding in the depths of the possessed mind.

Just at this moment, Beverly entered the room. Spiffycat’s body turned to look at her, the empty eyes locking onto hers. Beverly promptly shrieked. And then, when nothing happened, she shrieked again, more loudly. This brought several sets of feet to her door: Ella Starburst and her AEs, first, since their room was next door; then Gracia, whose room was next door on the other side; then NatureWriter, who had been downstairs eating but was concerned about the shriek anyway; and lastly, pushing each other to get in first, Dumbledore and Voldemort.

“What happened?” Dumbledore asked sharply.

“I don’t know- their eyes- I think they’re possessed,” Beverly stammered.

Dumbledore raised his wand, performed a careful movement, and shouted, “Discusa Malum!” A faint black mist rose from the bodies of both unfortunate victims, causing much elation among the viewers. Promptly thereafter, however, both girls collapsed, causing much worry among the viewers, who swarmed forward to flip them over and check that they were alive.

They weren’t.

Beverly screamed upon hearing the news, clutched herself tightly, and fainted in a dramatic manner. No one paid attention. They were too busy staring at Voldemort, who was himself staring at Dumbledore.

“How. Dare. You!” he yelled, “You know I have more expertise with this, you should have let me cast the spell, clearly you did this with the intent of killing our so-called guests.”

Dumbledore’s wand was immediately pointed at Voldemort’s own. “How dare you make such an accusation! I would never purposely endanger my students. You, on the other hand, would have been more likely to help the evil spirit than dispel it!”

By this point, the rest of the CBers and companions had gathered around, forming a loose ring around the two powerful wizards. From the side of the ring, NK nudged Kat. “Bet you ten Galleons they’re going to attack each other.” Her CBer didn’t have a chance to reply before the first ray of purple light shot from Voldemort’s wand.

Dumbledore blocked it easily with a shimmering shield and returned with another ray of light, which Voldemort blocked tidily with a wall of flame. After consuming the attack, the wall moved slowly toward Dumbledore, who tried and failed to dispel it with a jet of water. Sighing, he conjured a multicolored wall, which moved to meet the flame. Upon contact, Voldemort’s fire exploded in all directions, burning Yxek, Andrea, and Sammy. Harry and Beatrice were almost hit, too, but managed to jump out of the way just in time. Dumbledore immediately moved to help those injured, casting Episkey easily to heal the minor burns. The crowd of CBers assumed that this was the end of the conflict and began to disperse. Alas, Voldemort did not seem to agree. (Alas? Voldemort thought to the invisible narrators, Are you actually going to take Dumbledore’s side in this? That’s really quite biased, you know.) He spun to face Dumbledore angrily, swirled his wand, and shot a ray of red light into his back, in what was TOTALLY a COMPLETELY fair and just fight.
The CBers instantly pointed their wands at Voldy, and Breeze, who didn’t have a wand, grabbed a nearby quill to use instead.

“You do realize I conquered most of magical Britain, whereas you have only had your wands for a day?”

“Yes,” said Darkking calmly.

“What can you possibly think you can do against me?”

There was a brief silence, broken only by a quick “ow!” as NK accidentally stepped on Mor’s foot.

“I’ll answer the question for you. Nothing. You can do nothing against me.”

--

Dead: Catsclaw, Spiffycat, Emerald Frost

Suspects: Kitten, Ella Starburst, Andrea, Zeke (post more ideas if you have them!)

And thanks very much, Admins, for your patience with this long post!