Always important to have proper supervision for these kinds of things. Or so she's been told. (Ellie appreciates her circlet a lot. Maybe a bit ornate for everyday use, and wearing it too long gives her a bit of a headache, but still.)

(Maybe they can talk Professor Quirrel into letting them borrow the circlets more often...)

After they see how this goes.

Yeah.

Anathema feels ready (and very eager).

So is Ellie. The culmination of months of work is at hand.

The rush of power as they begin is heady, building throughout their long chant. The air around them shifts, making colors strange - reddish, mostly, though Quirrel's eyes seem to flash an odd gold. Something feels like it's expanding in their chests, shifting, their thoughts becoming focused yet oddly dream-like. 

The penultimate step is marking the runes with their blood, then the final invitation - 

Anathema's grinning as she slides her ritual knife shallowly into her thumb, before dragging her blood across her own runes.

Ellie is very slightly more hesitant as she does the same. Something feels... off.

Perhaps that was a reasonable instinct.

As they chant the final words, something goes very off. For one: something wet and thick runs down Ellie's face, bubbling up from her forehead - 

She doesn't have time to react before her head starts screaming with pain, her circlet a burning circle around her head - but not scalding her, like it's distant, held off - the pain is focused on her forehead, a deep explosion under the surface, writhing through her mind - 

The lights go out, maybe, though it's hard to tell because Ellie's vision won't focus - 

A dark shadow, long and twisting, rushes for Anathema.

Who's scrambling to her feet, wand drawn - 

But she doesn't get it up properly before the shadow hits her, flowing into her rippling skin - 

Aaaaaahhhh it hurts it hurts-

No no not Anathema need to stop need to save her-

She fumbles for a wand, tracking bloody smears across her robes.

Discovery - Anathema's wand's brother, black walnut for charms and self mastery and honesty and loyalty - leaps eager and angry into her hand even though it'd been hidden deep in her robes - 

And Anathema steadies herself, smirking - it's her face, an expression she'd make, but - 

Her eyes are gold, and she doesn't look like she's sharing the joke with Ellie.

"Well, seems only one took..."

She levels Discovery at the golden-eyed imposter. "Get- nnn- out."

She laughs, idly twirling Anathema's wand. "After all the trouble I went to, setting this up? Why, never."

"Expelliarmus!"

She waves her wand, idly - Ellie's spell doesn't connect - 

Instead, a golden beam appears connecting the two wands. An odd, warm feeling wraps around Ellie, making her feel buoyed almost.

The not Anathema tilts her head, still smiling. "Fascinating. You two even have brother wands, don't you?"

"Get. Out!" She wraps up her anger in the warmth and pushes it at the imposter.

A large pulse ripples down the connection between their wands, light bursting in streamers and ripples outward, some flying through the walls and ceiling and floor. That - forces her to take a step back, actually. She doesn't seem shaken, but she seems warier, now.

"Something of your mother in you after all..."

And there's a soft pop, almost like a flicker in the air pressure - 

The impostor drops Anathema's wand, destroying the golden bond. She throws a hand toward Ellie - her mind's going dark, the air closing in around her - 

And three house elves appear between the two - 

Professor Reynolds in their midst, still in her sleepwear, but her wand held steady before her.

The not Anathema groans rather dramatically, Anathema's wand jumping back into her hand - even before that, the air fills with waves of force, slowing down everyone.

A house elf starts forcing himself over to Ellie, pupils blown wide, skin pale, limbs quivering.

Professor Reynolds points her wand at the impostor - 

And, steadily, "Expecto Patronum."

A large bird, a nearly solid bluish white, form surrounded by mist, flows rapidly from her wand and at the impostor.

The not Anathema has an expression of surprise for a brief moment, like someone who didn't know that spell could do that - 

And then the bird hits her chest, pouring through her - light filling her skin, forcing the dark shadow to recoil out.

There's a sound, almost like screaming - 

And the shadow flows through the wall, fleeing.

Her follow up spells aren't fast enough to catch it.

Time returns to its normal rate.

The house elf grabs Ellie, the world spins - and they're in the Hospital Wing, surrounded by other elves at all the exits, Madam Pomfrey pale faced and clearly also just woken up - 

The nurse takes a deep breath and then reaches out, physically ripping the circlet from Ellie's head and throwing it aside as it begins to smoke. A house elf dives for it, vanishing with it, and Madam Pomfrey catches Ellie, lowering her to a bed - 

Just as Professor Reynolds, Anathema, and the other two elves appear. Anathema appears to be unconscious, and the nurse turns to Anathema, snapping out orders at house elves to fetch her this potion, that assistant - 

Ellie's scar's pain fades, in receding waves, taking her consciousness with it just as more house elves arrive with what appears to be a full paramedic team.