"Elysia?" Neville called out, causing me to open my eyes and awake from my daydreaming.
We were at his Grandmother's home, which was situated beside a very small forest, barely even that. However, it did hold a lovely pond and the little trees it had were massive, their foliage nearly drooping the ground with heavy leaves.
"Mhmm?" I hummed in reply, craning my head backwards over the sun seat to look at him.
"You should really read those letters from Drew, he's been writing all summer." Neville urged, waving the massive handful of letters in my face for the third time this week.
"Nev, I told you, I don't want to hear from him." I sighed, looking guiltily at the letters.
I had to admit, I'd been trying to see Drew's future all summer, but something stopped me. The only explanation was that when I cut off that vision of him last semester, I had cut off all visions of him. Neville's eyes burned as he turned to return the letters to the guest bedroom, guilting me further.
"Fine, give them to me." I continued in defeat, receiving a smile from Neville that made it all worth it.
Laying them in my hand, he whispered, "It'll all be fine, I knew-"
Suddenly his words thickened in my ears until they were undecipherable, black waves eroding my vision. The paper was thick and stiff from being ignored, but the second it made contact with my hand the vision began, disgustingly vivid.
The first thing I saw was his face, Drew's face. His eyes stare over the bridge, sad but still in awe of this muggle achievement. His mother runs ahead of him to catch up to his younger brother, but he decides to keep his pace slow. He gazes out at London, smiling faintly.
From his pocket, he draws out a small piece of parchment and a muggle 'pen'. Scribbling the date in to the corner of the page, he addresses it to Elysia, his face twisting in pain as he wrote every letter of that name, as if it were burning him.
''Dear Elysia,
I know that you will ignore this, but on the slim chance that you won't, I beg for your forgiveness. You don't have to love me, you don't even have to be friends with me, I just want to know that I haven't hurt you. I have heard that you and Neville are finally together, which is good. He won't hurt you like I did. There's a reason he's in Gryffindor and I'm not. All I want is for you to be ha'
The bridge began to rattle, causing his pen to fall from his hand and in to the river. Looking up, his eyes widened as thick black figures, quicker than lighting, circled the bridge. The sickening sound of beams snapping sent his hands to his ears, and his eyes to his family at the other end of the bridge, safely on land.
"Drew!" I scream, standing directly in front of him, but he can't see me.
I glance at the letter in his hand, staring at the date... Maybe I can save him, I'll send him an owl, but...
The date is today’s date.
As the bridge shakes and quivers, his knees buckle beneath him. His mother's screams echo in the distance, beckoning for him to run. The black shapes still whiz by, disorientating him. Pulling himself up he begins to run, run, run...
The face is of his mother, warm and fearful looks almost relieved... He's made it. Drew himself looks relieved for a second, before he hears and crunch, and looks down to see a beam protruding from his chest. He's feet away from the edge, but he cannot move.
Heath begins to run, but is held back by his Mother, whose eyes are so filled with tears it's hard to decipher the expression. She simply mouths, 'I love you...' over and over again, watching the life escape her son’s eyes. Drew wipes the blood from his mouth and mouths in reply, "I love you too, Mum."
The bridge falls, so very slowly in to the river, taking whole families with it into the depths of the icy water, taking Drew.
His green-blue eyes seem to connect with mine for a second as he cascades in to the water, and for the first time in months, he smiles.
"Elle? Elle are you okay? Why are you crying, I'm sorry... I shouldn't have forced these on to you..." Neville whispers, wiping the tears gently form my face.
"N-Neville, we need to turn on the news..." I sob, clutching him for support as we hobble back in to the house.
It was midday in the vision… maybe I wasn't too late? As we approach the couch, I see Neville's grandmother’s eyes staring intently at the news, which speaks of the mysterious collapse of an important walking bridge in London.
"D-Drew..." I croak, pointing at the screen.
Neville's eyes widen as he understands what I've said, and the second he does he holds me tighter and takes me away from the television screen, as if it would help. As the days progressed, Neville would come and visit me for hours at a time, feeding me, holding me, and comforting me.
"If... If I had of read those letters sooner, the connection to Drew would have been remade and I could have saved him." I whisper to Neville weakly, staring at the letter of condolence his mother sent me.
"Don't dwell on the past, Elle. Please, we have to go today, back to Hogwarts." Neville replied, his voice soothing as he lifted me up from the bed.
"I don't want to go back... His brother Jim comes to Hogwarts this year." I murmured, rejecting the thought of a boy with Drew's eyes looking up at me, knowing I broke his brothers heart.
"Elle, you've been a ghost since he died. V-Voldemort is rising and you have to be prepared to lose the people you love, don't give up." Neville said firmly, his eyes boring in to mine.
He was right. He was always right, but he was particularly right now. I had been a ghost, not even congratulating him on his fantastic N.E.W.T's in Herbology, or the fact that his spells had been brilliant since his new wand. He'd been living his life for me these past few weeks, and it wasn't fair.
Kissing him softly, I muttered in reply, "I'm sorry... you're right."
He grinned and led me out of the house, informing me that our bags were already at Kings Cross. During the journey over we discussed our subjects for this year. Mine would remain the same, but I'd spend a lot more time on my Charms and Potions, the closest options to healing available.
As we entered London, I shivered at its unrelenting beauty. Dirty, old, clean, new, holding it's very own magic. I retrieved my camera from my bag and snapped a photo of Kings Cross and turned to Neville, grinning with purpose.
"Not another photo, Elle! You've been taking photos of me all summer!" he chuckled, reaching his hands out to snap a photo of me.
"Smile!" he teased, clicking the camera before I could hide my face.
He continued to click on it, making me giggle and struggle to escape the lens as it captured me over and over. Neville furiously shook the photos and continued on in snapping photos until we entered the train station. The last photo he took was of me entering Platform 9 & 3/4, beckoning with my finger for him to follow me.
Stuffing the photos into his pocket, he followed me in and boarded the train with me, seating ourselves in Harry, Luna, Hermione and Ron's carriage. Neville seemed unaccustomed to his new respect in the school after the battle at the Ministry.
The chatter continued cordially before a trio of girls appeared at the door, all staring hungrily at Harry.
"You ask him!"
"No, you!"
"I'll do it!"
A bold looking girl stepped forward, smiling like a cat at Harry, "Hi, Harry, I'm Romilda, Romilda Vane. Why don't you join us in our compartment, you don't have to sit with them."
Her eyes travelled to Neville as leaned over to grab Trevor before he jumped off again. I narrowed my eyes, sending a glare that stopped her posse in their tracks. Harry declined, forcing Romilda to feign shock as he chose us over them.
"People expect you to have cooler friends than us." Luna said absently, not bothered by it.
"You are cool. None of them were at the Ministry... They didn't fight with me." Harry replied curtly, obviously annoyed by Romilda's words.
The conversation continued without me, because a girl had caught my eye with raven hair walking down the isle. My heart both leaped and cringed at the thought of it being Viperous, but in the end the painful pulsation had been useless, because it was just another student.
I closed my eyes and felt the fear and the pain return. First losing Viperous to her prophecy of evil, then Sirius to the Veil and then Drew. Neville was right, I did have to move on and be prepared for this pain, but that didn't numb it all that much.
Over the holidays I read over Drew's letters, all begging for forgiveness, wishing me happiness and all so very hurt. It was hard to believe that I had loved him once, but I did. If I could go back... If I could only go back and change it.
The train came to a steady halt, wrenching me from my regrets. I smiled at Neville widely and followed him to the thestral-drawn carriage. Hogwarts twinkled ahead, my true home greeting me with a warm feast and Dumbledore's condolences for the death of Drew Thompson, beloved Ravenclaw member.
"Thompson, James." The Sorting Hat bellowed, reciting Drew's surname loudly.
My eyes shot up, and my jaw dropped the second I saw the boy. Strawberry blond hair, a pixie nose and grey eyes; James was the spitting image of his older brother, a thought that brought tears to my eyes. Niamh patted my back softly, offering silent comfort.
"Mmm... Clever, aren't you? You come from a family of Ravenclaws boy, but it isn't your place... GRYFFINDOR!" boomed the hat, causing a smile to surface on the boy’s grim face.
My eyes lit up as I turned to Niamh. James was a Gryffindor? I clapped, perhaps the loudest of the Ravenclaws, until he seated himself in one of the empty seats at the Gryffindor table. Neville gave me a soft smile, he had obviously seen the similarity between James and Drew.
My stomach bloated, I walked form the Great Hall once the feast had ended, journeying to Dumbledore's office. Again the salamander leaped out of my way and allowed me upstairs without any fuss. Dumbledore was already back in his office, as if he was waiting for me.
"How was your summer, dear?" he said casually, his eyes guarded as he awaited my reaction.
"It was my fault, Dumbledore... I broke my connection with Drew and ignored his letters." I sobbed, collapsing in to the chair opposite his desk.
"I don't suppose I ever told you the story of my sisters death?" Dumbledore said, his voice shaky and low.
For once, I saw a look of vulnerability in his eyes as he proceeded.
"I was blinded... I neglected Arianna due to my own personal escapades with my friend. My brother, Aberforth stood up to me, and my friend and him began to duel. It upset poor Ana so much that her magic burst out of her. I don't know who killed her, it could well have been me... But..." he stopped, the story couldn't continue without hurting him.
"My point, dear girl, is that dwelling on the past won't change it." he finished, his misty eyes staring at the photo of his sister on his desk.
"There's one last thing... I- I found my prophecy." I added hesitantly, these words drawing Dumbledore back to the present.
"You did? What did it say, Elysia, tell me immediately!" he burst, leaning forward in his chair.
Gulping, I recited the words, "Day will changes its colour, from bright evening to black night, some must live without the others, only they will survive the fight. What do you think it means?"
Dumbledore's eyebrows furrowed in concentration as he tried to decipher the words that I had just spoken. He gave no hints to finding an answer; instead he just gave me one of his serene looks and spoke again.
"Prophecies are odd things... They can mean one thing to a certain person, and a completely different thing to another. I'm afraid you'll have to figure this out yourself... Did you read the plaque when you heard the prophecy?"
"Plaque?" I replied, confused.
"Aah... You may only see a prophecy involving oneself, so it was about you, but it seems to be about more than just you." he sighed, seeming a bit more confused than before.
"I think it's about me and Viperous." i said shortly, barely giving him a breath.
"That would make sense. Listen to me, Elysia," his voice grew intense, "Prophecies will only happen if you let them."
At that, he returned to his work, silently asking for me to leave. Bowing my head, I turned and exited the room, thinking of the possibilities and the fact that there was hope for Viperous yet. The only thing I could think about was the fact that there was a chance, a tiny chance, that Viperous could defeat this ridiculous prophecy of hers, maybe I could too,
I didn't, however, dwell on the fact that I was destined to a similar fate at 16 as Viperous and the problems that ensued the latest prophecy. Whoever thought of prophecies was a fool, because all they were doing was complicating my life.
The next weeks of school were boring, excepting for the fact that Harry had somehow become a potion prodigy and I was being beckoned to join the Slug Club. Inventing any excuse possible not to be a regular at his meetings, I found myself rising in the Potions class without Snape as the teacher.
Somehow, I wasn't terrified to screw up my potions, and now they were acceptable. One thing I had noticed recently was that Dumbledore and Harry were spending increasing amounts of time together, leaving barely any time for me to see him.
I scrawled out Viperous's name on another piece of parchment and poured my heart out again, folding the letter and stamping it with wax I gave it to Noctis and hoped that she would find her, eventually. How many of these letter I've sent, I don't know, but no reply has come yet and term one is nearing it's end.
"Ell, are you coming to Hogsmeade?" Neville called out, keeping his distance as I sat on the tower Viperous occupied once.
"Uh... Yeah. Do you think she'll reply, Nev?" I replied, standing up and jogging down to link arms with him.
"Do you want the truth or a lie?" he said solemnly, stopping to face me.
"The truth."
"I know you said Viperous can defeat the prophecy, but she doesn't know that. She's not coming to you-" he began, delicately wording his point.
"So... I should go to her?" I whispered, my eyes widening in realisation.
"We can apparate in and out of Hogsmeade, and just look for her, but come back." Neville continued, his eyes wary.
"Today?" I murmured, nodding slowly.
"Not today. You have no clue where she'll be... Wait until we have some sort of clue, then we can try."
"We?" I said, cocking an eyebrow.
"Of course I'm not going to let you go alone. Viperous may be your sister, but that won't stop her for long at this rate."
Nodding hesitantly, I followed him to Hogsmeade, which was a trip all round dull until Katie Bell was cursed. In the distance I heard screams, the crowd settled around her limp body on the ground. The only thing that caught my eye was the necklace laying askewed on the ground.
Edging towards it, I saw it snatched away as quickly as it had been dropped. As if I were in a trance, I only averted my eyes from the spot where it had been when Neville threw a snowball at my cheek. Wearing a mischievous grin, I turn and the fight commenced.
Walking back to the castle, I only poked and prodded at my dinner as Harry confessed his suspicions about Draco planting the necklace. Turning my head, I saw his face, gaunt and tired and disconnected. It made sense that he would be recruited, eyes on the inside, but I couldn't believe that a fellow student would betray anyone within the school walls.
After dinner I trudged back up to Viperous's tower, focusing on her. Maybe I could sap a vision with her in it if I was here, where she loved to be most. Swinging my legs of the edge, I sat in her usual place and searched for something, anything.
"V-Viperous! NO!" cried the cracked voice of a man.
A flash of red eyes glared at him, unrelenting. She edged forward, staring at his handsome face, which was now twisted in terror. She held no wand in her hands, but he was terrified. Inky spots slowly entered my vision, preventing me from seeing anything, but allowing me to hear a deafening scream.
Shivers pulsed through my body as I tried to understand the vision, or rather accept it. My body rattled with fear as I walked to Dumbledore's office, hoping for some kind of relief. Edging upstairs, I silently entered his office, only to see him inspecting his hand slowly.
The hand was blackened, as were the veins nearest to it. On his finger he wore a ring with a protruding stone in it. The scene melted away and all that I could see was Dumbledore, falling. Shaking this thought, I coughed to pronounce my presence.
"Uh... Dumbledore?"
His eyes shot up and his hand disappeared from sight. This was one of he few times that he looked anything other than serene and all knowing; he looked guilty. I considered leaving, just so that he could have some privacy.
"Do you know what this stone is, Elysia?" he said calmly, guilt disappearing form his eyes.
"No, I don't think so..." I murmured, seating myself in his armchair.
"It is the resurrection stone," my eyes shot up to stare at it, "I'm sure that you know what that is."
Sliding forward to the edge of my seat, I stared at it intently. This stone would let me see Sirius, my friend and confidant, or Drew... The prospect of apologising to him was so inviting that I found my feet shuffling forward to snatch the ring.
"Sit. This ring is in this state because I destroyed the soul that it was carrying. You, undoubtedly, know what a horcrux is?" he continued, his eyes wary of my next move.
"It's Dark magic... It, uh, let's you place one part of a split soul in to it so that you can live forever." I whispered, my eyes still fixated.
"Precisely, except that Voldemort used it for more than one part of a split soul."
These words snapped me out of my trance.
"That's... not possible, a soul can't undertake that." I replied, my tone harsh.
"His could. He made seven, and this was one of them. You may be wondering why I am telling you this?" he continued, no twinkle in his eyes.
I nod.
"Voldemort would not create children without a fail-safe for them. That necklace, show it to me, if you would." his voice was warm despite his cold words.
I glanced down at the gem that hung beneath my throat, a dull green. I barely noticed its presence anymore; it was just always there. It was comforting to have it with me, and it always amused me with its ever-changing colours and synchronisation with my mood.
"Here..." I breathed, unclasping it and passing it to him.
I tried my hardest to keep my face straight as I was parted from it. What Dumbledore was implying couldn't be true; I wouldn't let it be true. That would mean my soul was torn, and that could not be true. Chewing on my lip, I watched as he walked to the furthest corner of his office, the pain in my chest growing with every step he took.
He hung it out of the window, truly as far from me as he could get it without throwing it. I abandoned masking the pain, clutching my chest and cringing in pain. Sobs rung form my throat as he watched, standing there with my life in his hands.
"There is no doubt, dear Elysia, this necklace is a horcrux."
"N-not possible. I've had this since I was a kid, and I did not kill anybody." I whispered, Prunella pushing in to my mind.
Dumbledore paused, "There are ancient enchantments that allow for someone to tear another persons soul, especially a child's."
"And if you were to kill anyone in the future, that would of course split your soul further but either create a new horcrux or strengthen this one."
"And... wh-what about Prunella?" I whispered, thinking of the incident that occurred so long ago.
"The spell you used merely deflected her..." he began, before I interrupted.
"Yes, but it caused her to die, didn't it?" I growled, standing up and beginning to pace.
"Elysia, when it comes to the death of that woman, I think it depends on your own conscience."
"And what about Viperous? Does she know?" I continued, circling the room whilst re-clasping the necklace.
"Let us not touch on that subject. You said you needed help interpreting that prophecy, this is all that I can offer." he finished, humbly.
This had something to do with the prophecy? How on Earth did it have anything to do with anything other than the fact that I had a torn soul!? Saying no more to Dumbledore, I sped out of the room, more confused than when I entered it.
~
I think that could be the greatest criticism of Dumbledore, he won't just out and tell you straight up, he foreshadows like nobodies business.
Oh, updates won't be as regular; I need some serious conferencing with Chloe (writer of Viperous Rose)
So, if you do get bored waiting on me, pop on over to Viperous Rose! (I can assure you, she is a better writer.)
Horse dances and cat prances,
Livvi :D
Comment below what YOU think the Prophecy means? :3