The shimmer rippled like disturbed water, and from it the tiny figure stepped into being. Wings of faint starlight fluttered open, her snowy hair drifting down her back in soft waves, her tri-colored dress glowing faintly in the endless white void. She looked no taller than Harry's forearm, but her presence filled the space like a flare.
For a long heartbeat, she just blinked up at him, emerald eyes locking onto his with unnerving intensity. Then—
"AIIIIIEEEEEEEEEE!" she shrieked, clutching both sides of her face with tiny hands. "MASTER! ZARINA SEES YOU! ZARINA FINALLY MEETS MASTER! THE FATED ONE! THE CHOSEN ONE! THE BOY WHO LIVED—NO, THE BOY WHO BROODS!"
Harry froze mid-step, his mouth opening then closing. "…Did you just call me the Boy Who Broods?"
Zarina zipped around him in a blur of light, her tiny scythe spinning like a baton as she circled his head. "YES! SUCH AURA! SUCH SOUL! MASTER LOOKS LIKE HE CARRIES THE WEIGHT OF A THOUSAND TRAGEDIES! ZARINA IS HEARTBROKEN!"
She pressed the back of her hand to her forehead and mimed fainting dramatically, only to float upright a second later.
Harry rubbed his face with both hands. "Merlin's saggy socks. I've summoned a fairy who thinks she's auditioning for a play."
"PLAY?!" Zarina gasped, flying inches from his nose, her green eyes wide and gleaming like gemstones. "NO, MASTER! ZARINA IS NO ACTRESS! ZARINA IS REAL! ZARINA IS BEAUTY, WISDOM, AND GENIUS MADE FLESH!" She twirled in midair, her crimson-and-black dress flaring out, hair shimmering like spun moonlight. "AND ZARINA IS YOURS FOREVER!"
Harry let his hands drop and stared flatly at her. "…Great. I've got a magical system, a divine scythe, a muggle and Voldemort's memories rattling around in my skull—and now I've inherited a fairy who talks like a narcissistic poet."
Zarina gasped again, clutching her chest. "NA–R–CIS–SIS–TIC?!" she spelled the word out, as though each syllable stabbed her pride. "MASTER, HOW CRUEL! ZARINA IS NOT SELF-OBSESSED—ZARINA IS MERELY HONEST ABOUT HER OWN PERFECTION!"
Harry gave her a slow blink. "…So, yes. Narcissistic."
She puffed out her cheeks like an offended child, then spun a midair somersault and immediately recovered, beaming as if nothing had happened. "MASTER JESTS! BUT THAT IS FINE! ZARINA SHALL EDUCATE MASTER UNTIL HE UNDERSTANDS TRUE BEAUTY!"
"Bloody brilliant," Harry muttered. "I've basically summoned a winged Hermione with theater-kid energy."
Zarina clasped her hands together, eyes shimmering. "HER–MI–ONE? Who is this rival? IS SHE PRETTY? DOES SHE LIKE BOOKS?!" She jabbed her tiny scythe at his chest. "ANSWER ME, MASTER! ZARINA DEMANDS DETAILS!"
Harry actually choked on a laugh, shaking his head. "Oh, you're going to be a nightmare."
"YES!" Zarina declared proudly, her wings buzzing as she shot upward in a dramatic arc. "ZARINA SHALL BE MASTER'S LOVELY, TERRIFYING NIGHTMARE! A NIGHTMARE WITH KNOWLEDGE!"
Harry looked up at her, his expression caught somewhere between disbelief, exhaustion, and reluctant amusement. "…What have I gotten myself into?"
"DESTINY, MASTER!" Zarina shouted, striking a heroic pose midair with her scythe resting across her shoulders. "GLORIOUS, MULTIVERSAL DESTINY! AND ZARINA SHALL LEAD YOU TO IT!"
Zarina twirled in midair one last time before slowing, her emerald gaze sweeping across the vast, endless white void around them. Her expression shifted from smug delight to sudden seriousness.
"OOOH… SO THIS IS IT," she said softly, almost reverently. Then, in typical Zarina fashion, she spun midair, spread her arms wide, and announced at full volume: "MASTER IS INSIDE HIS SOULSCAPE!"
Harry blinked. "…My what?"
Zarina whipped around, wings buzzing like a furious insect, and jabbed her tiny scythe at him as though he'd just said the dumbest thing in existence.
"YOUR SOULSCAPE, MASTER! THE SACRED SPACE OF YOUR VERY BEING! THE PLACE WHERE YOUR SOUL RESIDES! HOW DOES MASTER NOT KNOW THIS?! DID HOGWARTS TEACH YOU NOTHING BESIDES HOW TO NEARLY DIE EVERY YEAR?!"
Harry scowled. "Well, considering the school's curriculum includes 'fight a troll,' 'duel a basilisk,' and 'get murdered by a dragon,' you're not entirely wrong."
"EXACTLY!" Zarina cried, looking genuinely outraged. "MASTER IS ALREADY HALF-CRAZY AND DIDN'T EVEN KNOW WHY!"
"…I'm starting to think summoning you was a mistake," Harry muttered.
"BLASPHEMY!" Zarina declared, striking another pose. " ANYWAY, LET ZARINA EDUCATE YOU MASTER. SOULSCAPE IS THE FOUNDATION OF HIS EXISTENCE! FROM HERE, THREE PILLARS ARE BORN!"
She swung her scythe dramatically, and three glowing pathways of light spiraled outward in the void.
"ONE! THE MENTAL PLANE—MASTER'S SPIRITUAL SENSES, HIS MIND, HIS THOUGHTS! MEMORY, WILLPOWER, INTELLIGENCE—ALL LIVE HERE!"
"SECOND! THE MAGICAL CORE—THE RESERVOIR OF POWER! IT STORES MAGIC, FEEDS IT, AND GROWS WITH THE SOUL! THE STRONGER THE SOUL, THE STRONGER THE CORE!"
"AND THIRD! THE BODY—THE VESSEL! THE SOUL ANCHORS IT, MAGIC ENERGIZES IT, AND THE MIND CONTROLS IT!"
She spun again, wings throwing off trails of green sparks, before pointing her scythe accusingly at Harry. "TOGETHER—THESE THREE PILLARS MAKE MASTER WHO HE IS. BUT IF ONE BREAKS, THE OTHERS CRUMBLE! DID MASTER KNOW THIS?!"
Harry raised a hand lazily. "…Pop quiz later, yeah?"
"INFURIATING!" Zarina wailed, throwing her tiny head back. "MASTER TREATS THIS SACRED KNOWLEDGE LIKE A CHILD TREATS BROCCOLI!"
Harry pinched his nose. "What does broccoli have to do with my soul?"
"EVERYTHING!" Zarina yelled back. "BROCCOLI BUILDS THE BODY. SOUL KNOWLEDGE BUILDS THE MASTER!"
"…You're insane," Harry muttered.
"ZARINA PREFERS THE TERM VISIONARY!" she corrected proudly. Then her expression shifted again, the theatrics dropping to bored disdain as she looked around at the vast, empty whiteness.
"Ugh. BUT ZARINA HATES BEING HERE. SOULSCAPES ARE ALWAYS EMPTY, ALWAYS DULL. NOTHING TO SEE. NOTHING TO DO. UNLESS—" Her lips curled into a mischievous grin. "—A DARK LORD DECIDES TO LIVE RENT-FREE FOR FOURTEEN YEARS."
Harry grimaced, his jaw tightening. "…Yeah. Thanks for reminding me Voldemort was basically my soul's squatter."
"YOU ARE WELCOME," Zarina said sweetly, then clapped her hands together. "ENOUGH OF THIS EMPTY ROOM NONSENSE! LET US GO SOMEWHERE INTERESTING—TO MASTER'S MENTAL SPACE!"
Harry blinked. "…Mental space?"
"YES!" she crowed, spinning gleefully in the air. "WHERE MEMORIES, KNOWLEDGE, AND THOUGHTS TAKE FORM! IT WILL BE MESSY, CHAOTIC, AND DISGRACEFUL, BUT OH-SO-INTERESTING!"
Before Harry could reply, she tapped her scythe once against the void. The white space cracked like glass, light spilling through the fractures.
"WAIT—hang on—" Harry started, but the ground beneath his feet gave way, the void collapsing inward. He felt himself pulled down, not painfully, but like being dragged through the tide of his own thoughts.
The whiteness shattered completely.
When Harry's vision cleared, he found himself surrounded by drifting clouds. They hung in every direction—some faint and wispy, others heavy and glowing, with sparks of lightning trapped inside like bottled storms. They swirled and collided, breaking apart only to reform again, drifting aimlessly in an endless sky.
Harry frowned. "…This is my mental space?"
"YES!" Zarina declared, her wings buzzing furiously as she zipped past his ear. "MASTER'S THOUGHTS, MEMORIES, AND KNOWLEDGE FLOAT HERE AS CLOUDS! BUT LOOK AT THIS!" She gestured wildly with her scythe. "ABSOLUTE CHAOS! NO ORDER! NO SYSTEM! JUST A SKY FULL OF CONFUSED, SULKY WEATHER!"
Harry eyed a large cloud that rumbled faintly as it drifted by. "That one's probably every time Snape sneered at me."
"DISGRACEFUL!" Zarina cried, spinning midair with her tiny hands on her hips. "MASTER'S MIND SHOULD BE A GLORIOUS LIBRARY OF KNOWLEDGE, NOT A STORM CLOUD MESS! ZARINA IS APPALLED!"
Harry smirked faintly. "So what—you're going to build me a library up here?"
Her emerald eyes gleamed as she puffed up proudly. "YES! IT IS ONE OF ZARINA'S INITIATE GIFTS! SHE CAN GATHER THESE CLOUDS, COMPRESS THEM, AND ORGANIZE THEM INTO SHELVES, VOLUMES, ARCHIVES! EVERY MEMORY NEATLY STORED, EVERY THOUGHT EASILY ACCESSED, EVERY BIT OF KNOWLEDGE POLISHED AND PRESERVED!"
Harry gave her a long, flat look. "…Brilliant. I've basically summoned Madam Pince with wings and a scythe."
"ZARINA ACCEPTS THIS COMPLIMENT!" she shouted gleefully, twirling as sparks of silver-green light burst around her. "BUT ZARINA IS MUCH MORE BEAUTIFUL AND LESS DUSTY!"
Harry sighed. "I'm not sure if I should be relieved or worried."
She zipped back in front of his face, eyes blazing. "MASTER, GIVE ZARINA PERMISSION, AND SHE SHALL TRANSFORM THIS CHAOS INTO A TRUE MENTAL LIBRARY! A PLACE WORTHY OF A CONQUEROR OF WORLDS!"
Harry glanced around at the drifting storm-clouds of thought, sparks crackling within them. "…And if I don't?"
Zarina gasped, clutching her chest like he'd stabbed her. "THEN ZARINA WILL BE DOOMED TO FLOAT AIMLESSLY IN THIS SKY FOREVER! HER GLORIOUS POTENTIAL—REDUCED TO WATCHING STORM CLOUDS COLLIDE UNTIL THE END OF TIME!"
Harry muttered, "Drama queen."
"VISIONARY!" she corrected instantly, pointing her scythe at him.
He dragged a hand down his face. "…Fine. Do it. Sort my head out. Can't be worse than how it looks now."
Zarina's grin split wide, emerald eyes blazing with delight. "EXCELLENT! MASTER HAS SPOKEN! LET THE GREAT REORGANIZATION BEGIN!"
She raised her scythe, and the nearest cloud quivered, glowing brighter. Lightning flickered inside it, then dimmed as the cloud compressed, folding inward until it reshaped itself into the outline of a massive leather-bound book. With a faint hum, it drifted into place on an invisible shelf forming out of shimmering light behind her.
Harry's eyes widened slightly. "…Okay, that's new."
"THIS IS ONLY THE BEGINNING!" Zarina declared triumphantly, wings blazing as more clouds began to shudder and move toward her call.