Call her paranoid, but Elspeth sensed that everything was not all right in her world, there was something that was not adding up. Sure, she had lived through some odd dreams in her life, but there were always indicators that allowed her to sense that it was, in fact, a dream when she woke up. However, the apparent dream she had experienced was nothing like what she had just witnessed. Waking up in the forest, even if she felt disoriented, she knew something was up. Even if the cut on her hand was gone, she knew it had been there, she knew what she had witnessed. Yet, everyone insisted on telling her that she probably had hit her head and that she needed rest.
Sirius and James had been the ones to bring her to the Hospital Wing, allowing Madam Pomfrey to look her over. But the Healer didn't find anything that was out of the ordinary. Of course, Elspeth couldn't fully disclose the entire situation because she would find herself in trouble for entering the Forest and she would probably find herself in greater trouble if she exposed Persephone's influence on the centaurs. And as much as she wanted to travel to the Underworld right away and demand some answers, Elspeth was aware that without proof it was possible that she would be told a completely different story.
After all, Persephone had called defended her presence against the centaurs, referring Elspeth as her daughter. It didn't seem like a term of endearment that a goddess would use to describe a mortal, no matter how close they were. She sounded angry, angry that the centaurs would dare even approach Elspeth in such a manner. Elspeth could remember the venom that seemed to drip from Persephone's tongue, reminding all that while Persephone appeared as soft and beautiful as the flowers she created, there were still the hidden thorns ready to stab and take blood if needed.
She was Queen of the Underworld for a reason.
With such emotion to her tone, Persephone made it clear that if the centaurs ever dared to approach Elspeth like that ever again that they would be facing her personally. She had struck fear into their hearts before they scattered off and even if Elspeth was supposed to believe that Persephone had done it because the Hayes family was under their godly protection, she didn't. There was something else, the fierce protective nature, Elspeth had seen it many times before with her mother, Sorcha. Such as the way that Sorcha wanted to beat the living hell out of Penelope for calling Elspeth a slag.
There was part of Elspeth that was already feeling torn just thinking about the possibilities. Sorcha and Caelan were her parents, the people that she had known since birth. They had raised her, shown her love, and done everything in their power to make her happy, even if they had some strict rules in place while she was growing up. She would never in a million years ever question if they were her parents or not. But then, when she met Hades and Persephone, there was such a bond, an attachment to having them in her life.
The days she had gone without speaking to Hades had felt terrible and while she had always joked that it was like having a second set of parents around, she hadn't really been complaining about such things. She turned to them for guidance when she couldn't go directly to Sorcha and Caelan, especially when she was away at school and her parents were far away and working.
But was there more to the story? Was there something she was missing or something that everyone wasn't telling her?
When Madam Pomfrey gave her the clear to go, Elspeth had yet to say very much, even as Sirius and James took to escorting her back to the Gryffindor tower. She could feel them exchanging nervous glances behind her back, the two of them whispering every so often about what they should say or do. Eventually, she knew she had to settle their minds until she came up with her own answers. She couldn't have them thinking that she was going mad.
"I guess you two were right," she said with a sigh as they both fell into step with her, " I did manage to hit my head pretty hard. Wasn't expecting the centaurs to show up out there."
"El, what you did was dangerous!" James told her in a brotherly tone as he proceeded with his scolding. "You and Lily could have seriously gotten hurt and then what would have happened? What if no one knew that you two were out there? I don't even know what you were thinking."
Stealing a look in Sirius' direction, she could see him hang his head in guilt and they were both probably feeling the same way at that moment. Obviously, their plan had fallen through even if they thought it was brilliant at the time.
"I wasn't thinking," she replied to James, " and I'm sorry. It's just...you know, you four head into the Forest all the time with no problem. I figured it wouldn't be that big of a deal. Look, it was stupid of me and I'll admit that. I'll apologise to Lily too since I'm the one who dragged her out there in the first place. It's not like she really wanted to go, I didn't give her much of an option. I'm sorry, James."
It was quiet for a few moments as she came to a halt in the corridor, facing James with an apologetic look. He tried his best to keep a stern expression, but even as he looked over at Sirius, he was faced with the puppy-eyed look, leaving him to fold within seconds.
"Ah, damn you two with your faces," he grumbled before pulling Elspeth into a hug. "Look, apologies aside, I'm just glad you're alright, okay? Just don't do anything stupid like that again. At least, not without me knowing."
"Well, where's the fun in that?"
Sirius offered Elspeth to rest in his room where it would probably be quieter since none of the boys would be in there. She contemplated it for a few seconds, appreciating the idea of cuddling up with Sirius for a nap. However, an idea crossed her mind and she politely declined the offer, claiming that she desperately wanted to take a shower after being on the forest floor for Merlin knew how long.
"There's no telling how many squirrels pissed at the base of that tree," she said before looking at him as she stood on the first step towards the stairwell of the girl's dorm. "Or perhaps if you marked the tree yourself."
Crossing his arms, Sirius' face flushed a slight red tint to his cheeks as he wouldn't meet her gaze. "I'll have you know I haven't marked anything in the forest, thank you very much, but if that's what you expect-"
He playfully lifted up his right leg at an angle causing Elspeth to squeal and turn to run up the steps. Of course, Sirius had the advantage as he placed his foot on the step, turning all the stairs into a slide that brought Elspeth slipping right back down before him. He grabbed her before she tried to get away, before pressing a kiss to her forehead.
"There you go, I marked my territory," he said with a chuckle before releasing her as she was placed on the floor.
"Uh, excuse me, I am not your territory, don't make me mark you with my foot against your arse!"
"Sweet dreams, sweetheart!" he called over his shoulder before making his way to the boy's dorm, leaving her on the floor. She fought back the smile on her face until he disappeared before she broke out into a grin. Only it seemed Sirius anticipated it as he poked his head back out of the entrance way. "By the way, I saw that smile."
Sticking her tongue out at him until he was gone, Elspeth pushed herself up and made her way to the stairs again to head to her dorm room. She was praying that it was empty and it seemed she was in luck. The experiment she had in mind would probably not look so good in the eyes of others, but she wanted to be sure of what she had or hadn't seen earlier in the forest. There was only one way to determine if what she had seen had been real.
Making her way over to her trunk, she lifted the top up and grabbed one of her spare quills. The sharp point would do just the trick as she glanced around the room to make sure that she was still alone. With her back facing the entrance of the doorway, she acted quickly and pressed the tip of the quill into the palm of her hand to make an incision.
It was the moment of truth as the cut was deep enough for blood to pour out, but rather than the golden liquid she had believed to witness in the forest, she was faced with the regular blood she had seen over the years. Staring at it for a few moments, it was like Elspeth was waiting for it to take a drastic turn, perhaps something would show differently, but it remained the same.
"I know what I saw," she said to herself, " I just know it. It wasn't a dream."
Despite the lack of evidence, Elspeth still had plans of going to the Underworld and demanding to speak with Persephone and Hades. She wasn't sure if she was going to get the truth or what they were going to tell her, but she needed to confront them over the matter. It just seemed so out of the norm for her to share such a dream and have none of it be true.
Turning on her heel, Elspeth went to collect her wand off her bed so that she could heal her hand and wipe up the blood before anyone arrived. However, as she turned around, there was already someone standing in the doorway and it wasn't any of her dormmates. A grown woman with dark hair and a freckled face was standing in the doorway, staring Elspeth down. There was a sense of familiarity to her appearance but Elspeth couldn't pinpoint where she had seen the woman before if she had at all.
However, the woman was still an intruder because she wasn't supposed to be in the dorms, she wasn't a Gryffindor and she wasn't a staff member either. But the state of her luxurious robes should have been a good indicator that she wasn't a witch paying a visit. Elspeth was staring down another god but when it came to godly introductions or treatment, Elspeth was never known for giving them special treatment.
From nipple-twisting the God of the Underworld, it was safe to say that the goddess before her wasn't going to find herself welcomed with any sort of kneeling or stance of worship.
"Elspeth Hayes," the goddess called out her names, "I should have guessed long ago that it was you."
"Uh, hold up there," Elspeth said, " before we get into another whirlwind of information and stuff because I'm assuming that you're another godly person that I need to deal with for some reason. I probably did something I wasn't supposed to but how's about an introduction here? Who the hell are you and what are you doing in my room?"
"How dare you speak to me in such a way-"
"Oh good, the one intruding is the one getting offended. I hope you're not the Goddess of Logic."
A/N: Guess who? :) Hint : She's definitely not the Goddess of Logic.