HARRY POTTER WLoF REWRITE PART 3 CHAP 4

"So…what is the grouping for the trainees?" A man asked in a thick Italian accent. Several men, many covered with a varying degree of scarring, sat in a cigarette and cigar smoke filled room, creating a haze in the air. Older men looked up.

"I want a grouping with men. I do not have the time to deal with…" One man's nose scrunched up as though he had smelled something awful. "Women."

There was a murmur of agreement. However one seemed more intrigued, remaining silent as men bid on different. He looked a bit different than the rest of the men, who looked hardened from their years of being an auror. Though he looked cautious, he was nowhere near as cautious looking as the other men. His eyes were filled with intrigue about the possibility of having a woman in the forces. Lucio Nacar finished his drink with a slight smirk.

"Oye, Lucio!" One of the grizzled men said. "What are you smiling 'bout?"

"Nothing. Nothing." He remarked, putting out his cigarette before standing. "I must be off boys." He said, tipping his head. "I'll see you all tomorrow."

The men waved him off, before returning to smoking their cigars. Lucio chuckled before ambling out, inhaling the air outside, and walking down the street.

---

"Oye, Black!" An Italian filled accent called out and Moria turned to look. Inwardly she groaned. Great.

"Good morning, Lucio." She forced herself to say politely. She didn't know what to make of him. He offered a polite smile. "Is something the matter?"

The older man gave a slight grin. "Nothing Mrs. Black. I was just wondering how one of the few female trainees is doing."

"Just fine." Moria replied and gave the older man a look.

"Do you like it here?" He asked. She shrugged, glancing at several ministry officials that gave her a look as they passed by. Lucio clearly noticed. "Just because everyone else isn't aware of whom you're married to, doesn't mean everyone is like that." Lucio said. "And that it doesn't make you any less homesick."

"What do you mean?"

He merely smiled and patted her shoulder. Moria watched as he left and rolled her eyes. She didn't get him at all. It was one thing she never understood from any of his comments. He said them so…evasively. She was drawn out of her thoughts as she became aware of familiar voices. Two of them at least, arguing with other voices.

"-let us pass!"

"Women shouldn't be doing a man's job, Ragazza." A thick italian accent said. Moria growled. Why were all these men so unbearably chauvinistic!?

"Hey!" She called out as she turned down a corner, spotting Florentia and Rosetta being stopped by a small group of their classmates. All men. They turned and gave a look of disgust towards her, which she didn't much care about. "Back off!" She snarled, as she arrived by their side, standing in front of the two girls.

"Stay out of this."

"I will not! I said to back off!" She warned. The man advanced apparently under the belief that she couldn't do anything. Moira pulled at her wand and uttered a curse. Suddenly the man was attacked by winged bogies. She growled. "I said back-"

One of them slammed his fist into her face, with an Italian curse word, giving her a hint she had angered them.

"Hey!" Rosetta yelled. "That was uncalled for!"

Moria stumbled, gripping her face, looking stunned. Not by the pain…but by the fact he had punched her in an open place. She was used to being punched…but only either in a setting where it had been behind closed doors, or in an actual fight. The men chuckled.

"Poor little woman. Not used to-"

Another fist, much larger than hers slammed into the man's face, cutting him off midsentence as he stumbled backwards into his group and she looked up surprise as she saw another one of her classmates, Basilio Leoni, standing there in front of her.

"Didn't your mother ever teach you not to hit women?" He asked gruffly. Moria looked stunned. As did Florentia and Rosetta. No one had ever defended them before. One of the men cursed and swung his fist towards the man that easily shadowed him. Basilio caught the fist easily, squeezing it and the man yelped.

"Go on about your business," he said.

"Listen Basilio-"

"What is going on here?"

The group looked over to see an instructor making his way over.

"Sir! Leoni attacked us! And so did Black!"

"Mrs. Black only fought back because you threatened her. I punched you because you hit a woman." Basilio snarled.

"Mrs. Black?" Said the instructor.

Moria turned to look at him, revealing her bruised cheek

That was all the proof he needed.

"I would like to speak to all of you." He said to the antagonizers "Privately." The three nodded. The men, glaring followed him. This left the three girls and Basilio there. Basilio offered a smile.

"Pleasure ladies."

"Why did you do that?" Moria asked as she wiped the small amount of blood from her chin. "Not that I'm ungrateful or anything…" She muttered. This man easily towered over her by a foot.

"Because it's the right thing to do." Basilio said with a smile. "I'll see you three in class." He added before walking away. Moria and the two other girls stared in surprise.

Unbeknownst to them, Lucio observed the situation and gave a smile towards the group. He glanced at Moria who seemed to have shrugged the whole incident away, wiping away the small trickle of blood off of her chin, gathering her bag and continuing down the hall with Rosetta and Florentia following her as though nothing had happened.

Very interesting indeed.

---

"So today's lesson, and final lesson before you will be assigned to groups is hand-to-hand combat." Their teacher said, earning some murmurs in surprise.

"But why, Sir?" One of the boys asked. "If we have our wands-"

"But what if you don't have your wand?" He asked. "Are you going to stand there like a sitting duck, waiting for help?"

More murmurs.

"Now then…I am going to need everyone to pair up. But to spice things up, I am asking you to pair with people I assign."

"Great." Moria grumbled. And so they were paired off. Rosetta thankfully was paired with Basilio, and Florentia had been paired with Nico Tosto. She however had gotten one of the attackers earlier that day.

Great, just great.

"Black. Abandonato. You're first up."

Moria rolled her eyes as Elia Abandonato smirked at her and they walked to the center of the classroom. Moria removed her jacket, as she wouldn't be able to fight with it on. Then she turned to look at Elia.

"Hope you don't mind bruising, Black."

"Hope you don't mind blood." She retorted coolly.

"Alright, Black. The first lesson is to break out of a hold. You'll be the one held." The teacher said and the men in the group began to chuckle. Moria looked at Elia coolly as he came up and pulled her to him, her back pressing to his chest, tightening his grip on her wrists as he pulled her arms across her chest.

"So whatcha going to do, woman? Cry and scream?" He hissed into her ear. She smirked, choosing not to answer. The teacher made a swishing sound with his wand.

And she slammed her head backwards into his face.

He yelped and released her hands trying to cover his now bleeding nose as she pieroted on her foot and slammed her left leg out, slamming it into the side of his head, and watched in cool satisfaction as a tooth flew out of his jaw and bounced on the tiled floor. He cursed and stood up, his face bloodied, dashing towards. She side-stepped, slamming her foot into his chest, then as he fell backwards slammed the bottom of her foot into his chin. He fell to the ground in an ungraceful heap. She placed a hand on her hip as stunned silence as she stared at Elia with indifference.

"No…no…I think kicking your arse is what I'm going to do." She replied, walking back to the crowd.

"How…how did you…" Rosetta began to ask.

"It's called he didn't use half of his strength because he didn't think he needed to. And I know how to fight." Moria stated. "I would have had a tougher time if he actually took me seriously. Now he can pull himself and his broken jaw off the ground."

"Geez…remind me not to get on your bad side." Basilio commented and Moria smiled coyly.

"Black, we're going to need to have a word with you." The teacher called out and Moria huffed.

---

Moria looked up and saw Florentia talking to Nico as they exited the class. She paused as she observed them arguing. While it wasn't that much of a surprise, what did surprise her was how upset Florentia looked so upset. She walked over.

"Is something the matter?" She asked. Nico jerked away and flushed, his face darkening.

"I have to go." He grumbled and stalked away. Moria looked at him quizzically and then at Florentia.

"Are you alright?"

"I'm fine."

"Uh-huh…" Moria said without actually believing her, "come on."

"Where're we going?"

"For some coffee."

It took little to no time before they had made it to a small café, the pair sitting down in a table farther away from the rest of the population. "So…what's the matter? Is that Nico bastard trying to force you out of the program?" She asked. It wasn't surprising. A lot of the girls had dropped out of the auror program by being bullied by the men left and right.

"No. No. He's not happy about it, but no."

"Well it isn't up to him what you want to do."

"He's my older brother."

That startled Moria and she looked up at the girl.

"You two are…twins?"

"Half-siblings. Same mother different fathers"

"Oh."

"I was born two months after him."

"…Excuse me, I think I heard you wrong. Did you say two months apart?" Moria asked in confusion. Florentia nodded. "You do realize, even if both your parents are Wizarding folk, that isn't possible right?"

"It is if your mother is well…different."

"How so?"

"She's a pureblood dryad."

"Dryad? Those creatures that come from trees?"

Florentia laughed. "Yes. The creatures that come from trees."

"I didn't know they existed in well…so many numbers."

"They don't. That's why Nico and I were created."

The look of confusion was apparently evident on Moria's face and Florentia sighed, pushing her hair back, and looked around for a moment.

"Dryads are a very rare breed, even rarer in countries other than Italy. It doesn't surprise me that someone from England doesn't really know about us. But…my mother's tribe…they needed heirs…seedlings. So a select few, my mother included, were sent out into the human world…away from Giardino di Eden into Italy to find suitable men to mate with. There was no love on their part, just a mission. My mother therefore first had to find suitable donors. Then…she created a look for each person. For example my father saw my mother as a tall woman with an hourglass figure. Nico's father saw her as a short woman with a sort of apple shape figure. Their ideal women. She then collected their half of the genes and stored them. They weren't the only two, and I'm quite sure I have more siblings elsewhere, but he's the only one I know of." Florentia stated. "Once she achieved enough…er…sperm…from certain men…." She trailed off flushing.

"She went through diapause so she could gain more?" Moria asked.

"How do you…"

"Let's just say I had no life from age 9 to 11." Moria remarked dryly. "I mostly read during that time. Interesting stuff about animals. Like did you know that dog nose prints are as unique as a finger print?"

Florentia stared.

"...Never mind. Continue."

"Anyway…" Florentia stated with a smirk. "My mother left everyone that she had mated with and she well…merged with her life-tree, and essentially merged our father's dna with her embryos, those themselves mixed with both her plat life, and her human female cells she had developed. She then waited. When each child was born, the boys were sent back to their fathers…and the girls stayed in the Garden."

"Dare I ask why she didn't keep the males?" Moria asked dryly. "Heaven forbid in this society of a male driven world, that the boys were sent home."

Florentia laughed. "Dryads are a matriarchal society. The pureblood male dryads are literally trees with stumps representing their-"

"I get it." Moria interrupted. "I don't need detail. So…why are you here? If my translation works... Giardino di Eden means Garden of Eden. Why leave the biblical paradise and come here?"

"I was ousted."

"Ousted?"

"I did not meet the standards that were expected of the half-bloods of my generation." Florentia remarked with a shrug. "So I was returned to my father. And I found my half-brother."

"Ah." Moria stated. "He doesn't want you to be an auror because he's worried about you."

Florentia flushed.

"Well…screw him."

The younger girl looked at her in surprise.

"As shocking as it may be to men, women aren't damsels in distress. And even though he's your older brother by two months, it's not his choice about whether or whether not you become an auror." Moria continued with a shrug.

"It's up to you though."

Florentia was silent observing Moria before giving a brief smile.

"Moria?"

"Hm?"

"Thank you."

"Never a problem."

---

Moria woke up to the sound of deafening silence. She blinked and looked at her window, and it was oddly a bright light came around the edges, as though the sun was reflecting on mirrors. She sat up in bed and moved the curtain slightly staring at the scene that lay before her, slowly she smiled, then crawled out of the bed and walked down the hall and opened the bedroom door of the children. Harry was just waking up, as well as Max, though she seemed to be a bit slower. Moria smiled as the two looked at her in confusion.

"Guess what Father Winter left you all."

The two children snapped right up to that and the three year old and two year old raced out, still clad in only their pajamas. Moria followed them down the stairs. They slid the porch doors opened and stared at the heavenly scene in front of them. Small icicles hung from the edge of the roof, glimmering in the bright morning light. The sky was a clear blue, patterned only with wisps of clouds that looked only like mist. The only thing that broke the never ending sky was the jagged formation of the alps that lay miles away, the tops of them snowcapped. On the ground lay a blanket of white snow, sparkling under the sunrays, splattered against the trees, both the ones bare of any leaves, and the evergreens that lay in the earth.

Harry stared at the ground and then laughed loudly.

"Wow!" He called out before jumping off the porch and landing face first into the snow. Never had he seen so much snow before. He curled up before bursting backward, lying on his back laughing insanely. He then continued to roll, leaving imprints of his small form as he laughed insanely. Max, being a bit more cautious, carefully walked into the snow, taking large steps before tripping and face-planting into the snow. She lifted herself up with her hands, shaking the snow off of her face. Moria watched in amusement.

"Incoming!" She yelled out before pushing herself off of the porch and landing belly first into the snow, taking Max and Harry down for the count. The two children curled up to her before she rolled over and the three burst out laughing.

They stayed out there playing in the snow before they felt frozen. She brought them in and wrapped the two children in blankets, placing a warming spell over them as she made hot chocolate.

"I've newer seen so much snow!"

"Neder had I!" Max chirped as she held her sippy-cup filled with the warmed hot chocolate. Moria laughed as she watched the two chat sipping their drinks. She looked over at the window, staring at the snow.

"Did you eber see so much snow Mummy?" Max asked. Moria looked back and smiled before nodding.

"When I was 15, there was a big snow storm at Hogwarts. Your fathers had the bright idea of a HUGE snowball fight between all the houses. No magic. Truthfully, I think they were just using it as an excuse for target practice, but it was still rather fun." She explained. The children both smiled brightly.

"We should do tat wen we go to Hogwats." Max murmured, snuggling up to her blanket.

"I bet they would find that amusing." Moria remarked sitting up with a grunt. "Now then. I was thinking of making some chicken soup. What do you two think?"

"Yeah!"

---

"Hawwy?"

"Yeah?"

"…do you thwink Mummy is sad?" Max ask as she patted the snow into a sphere, placing it on the slightly larger sphere that was already situated in the snow. Harry looked at her. "Because of Daddy?" She clarified.

"I dunno…maybe…" Harry remarked, looking at the window staring at Moria who was making the soup. "Well we'll just have to make sure she's happy. Right?"

"Wight." Max said.

"Kids! Soups ready!" Moria called out. Max looked at Harry and the two made a silent promise, before running to the house, their vow silently accepted between the two of them.

---

Moria stood up there, staring at the lists of the groups, looking for her name. She was jostled and pushed as classmates of her scrambled around, before finally she found hers, as well as Rosetta's and Florentias. Under Lucio's own name. So he would be the leader of the team she was on.

"Moria!" A deep booming voice remarked, lifting her up easily. She yelped in surprise and looked down at Basilio, who was holding her by the waist, looking at her with playful eyes. "We are in the same grouping."

"So it appears." Moria wheezed from the bear-hug the man was giving her. "Do you mind if you let me down…please?" She asked. He chuckled.

"But of course. I need to talk with some of our classmates. I shall see you later." He said. She nodded, allowing him to let her go and watching as he walked away before turning back to the lists. She continued to look at the list. It seemed that Nico was in their group as well. Florentia would probably have issues with that…but maybe they could work it out. As well as Giacintro Muraro. She looked at the man that stood next to her, who was staring at the list as well.

"Well…it seems that we'll be teammates." She said lamely. Giacintro looked at her.

"I will be clear. I don't like you."

Moria blinked.

"Women like you are nothing but naïve people who think they can rise above what they were given are nothing but filth." He said and Moria glared at him. "It'd be better if you just leave now."

"I hate to break it to you, but you'll have a better chance going against Voldemort than getting me out of this." She growled and watched him flinch.

"Do not say that name."

"Fear in the name is a weakness." She snapped. "I don't know why you and everyone think that women can't be aurors, and quite honestly, I don't care what you think of me, I am in this for the long run, so suck it up you chauvinistic prick. You're stuck with me."

He stared at her and then snorted as though she was filth.

"Well then, Mrs. Black. I hope that you survive the first year."

"I hope your testicles are ripped off." She snarled and turned on her heel, storming off, her rage fuming around her. Lucio stopped her.

"Are you alright?"

"I'm fine. Why don't you talk to your newest student?" She suggested, pulling on her jacket. "I need to go and pick up my kids."

"Alright?" Lucio said as she walked away and then looked at Giacintro.

Interesting indeed.