Imperium - t.r.

Chapter Twenty: Time's Up

Anastasia woke up in a cold, dark room like she had the past four months. She waved her hand as fire jumped to life on the logs. Looking at her calendar hanging on the wall, Anastasia noticed that it was New Year's Eve and Tom's birthday. Scowling, she wondered if he had bothered to remember hers over the years of them being apart. Getting up and trudging to the Great Hall, the castle seemed completely vacated. No one was in the Great Hall when she sat down to eat. It was a strange thing. In a room so vast, void of the usual collective murmur of conversation and the clinking of goblets and utensils, all she could hear was herself. Every time she put her goblet down or bit down on a piece of toast, it resounded around her and it was deafening and it haunted her. She had no idea where everyone was, but to her guess, probably sleeping in so that they could have maximum energy for the parties that night. Scoffing at the thought, she went back to her dormitory, donned her winter coat, and walked out to the forest.

    As she approached the towering trees of the Forbidden Forest, she noticed that it had started to snow. The branches and ground packed with cold white made her shiver, but not from the cold. She hiked up to the spot where she and Tom would meet, nearly falling to her death from the ice a few times. In the cave, she sat down, huddled in the fur in her coat. Conjuring some wood with her wand, she lit a fire next to her. In the distance and in the snow, Hogwarts looked like everything else. A speck of nothingness in the vastness of the world. In the Forest, in the cave, Hogwarts was simply a silhouette.

    She had felt it for a while now. The cold, dark feeling that had been in her mind for months. First from Tom, and now Grindelwald on top of that. Shivering, she took shaky breaths erratically. For the first time, Anastasia truly felt like she bit off more than she could chew. She thought of Angelo and Jasper, who she'd have to protect when they were out in the field. She thought of Uriah, Juniper, and Mildred who she would have to leave on their own if she died in action. She thought of Malfoy, Mulciber, and Rosier, how they knew so little of the world and how it would stay that way if they continued to follow. She thought of Retyul, her anchor in the stormy years of Hogwarts. She thought of Hagrid, who will have to care for Retyul if she cannot, whom she hopes will still retain the kindness that he's had and the strength to overcome the adversities that came with his heritage. She thought of Tom, the boy she had known her entire life, now twisted into some sick being and cannot be turned back. When she signed up for the program, she didn't think it would feel like this.

    Anastasia sat there. For how long? She didn't know, but by the time she got to the courtyard, faced with Rosier, the moon was already up. It was all too real for her. In twelve days, she would be in Germany with Angelo, Jasper, Sadie, Jeremy, Theseus, and other Aurors who refused to give up the fight. In twelve days, she would be laying low in Nurmengard Castle, learning dark magic from Grindelwald and learning about the dragons.

    "Anastasia?" Rosier inquired of her. She looked at him.

    "Yeah, is everything alright?" she responded.

    "I think I should be asking you that question," Rosier sighed. "Come on, what's bothering you?"

    "It's nothing... it's just--" she grumbled, unable to put it into words.

    "The dispatch, right?" Rosier said. "I'd be worried too if I was you"

    "I don't think I thought this through when I signed up," Anastasia mumbled. "It hurts to admit, but I'm getting cold feet."

    "I'd help you if I could, but it's too late to back out now," Rosier replied solemnly, taking her hand in his. "You already promised Riddle."

    Anastasia quickly took her hand out and shot him a warning look. Rosier's heart sank as he turned his own gaze to the floor with a mumbled apology.