Entry for "Divination" at "Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry (Challenges and Assignments)"

Though this may seem a bit strange for Divination, a key to unlocking the future is acknowledging the past.

Your challenge: Write a fic about characters and set in an era previous to the Trio Era (This includes Founders, Riddle, Marauders, and any other time before, between, or after - but only up until Harry's time - these times)

Prompts (Use at least 2):

- Riddle Era

- Yew

- Uptight

- Defensive

- A long way from home

- Minerva McGonagall

- Title including some(thing/body/one)

Entry for the "Scavenger Hunt" at "Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry (Challenges and Assignments)"

25. Lucretia Black

Entry for the "Hogwarts Fair 2014" Jellybean Bingo: Baked Bean

Lucretia was born around 1925, being about 17 in the middle of World War II.

A thank you to Summer Leigh Wind, my new beta :)

I hope you all enjoy this! :)

Lucretia Black stared out of the window of her impressive room in the Black summer residence, her head supported on the knees she had pulled up to her chest. It was already night and the moon broke through the glass, illuminating the young woman sitting on the windowsill.

She felt like she was trapped inside the impressive walls of the Manor and being here, out in the country, was a long way from home. Lucretia loved to be in London, she loved the people and sometimes, when her father allowed her to go outside on her own, she would take the Underground, eat baked beans in a little muggle restaurant and stroll through muggle shops, trying on the dresses the non-magical girls wore. It was her own little secret that she stored the tickets from her little "adventures" in a small velvet box in her nightstand and she also had a few muggle dresses hidden in the back of her wardrobe.

Lucretia was a free spirit and it had affected her when her father had told her that he wanted her to stay inside, fearing the air attacks of the German air force just as much as the muggles.

And now, as her father had decided for the family to temporarily move to the country manor to be safe from the attacks on the City of London, Lucretia felt like her freedom had been ripped from her. Being outside here was not as thrilling as walking through the bustling streets and it was horribly quiet here.

And this was when Lucretia Black realised that she had a sense for the forbidden.

This sense was driving her now as she stood up from the windowsill with a sigh and opened her window, taking a deep breath as the air of the summer night hit her skin.

Slowly she climbed down the wooden construction that supported the rose vines, feeling her heart jump in excitement as she jumped down the last metre, landing securely on her bare feet.

A smile lit up her face as she left the huge garden of the manor and walked over the next hill, feeling how compulsions and restrictions were falling off her shoulders and she opened her dark hair to feel it billow in the slight breeze of the night.

Suddenly, the warm atmosphere changed from one second to the other, it was as if Lucretia had stepped through a door leading into a totally different world.

A thick, white fog wafted around her and shortened her sight, a incredible cold came up and she shivered, rubbing her hands over her arms to warm herself. A crow screamed and the young woman twitched, holding her breath before she took a tentative step forward. It was spooky and Lucretia found herself wanting nothing else than turn around and run back to the house, but the fog still felt magnetic.

Her eyes wandered around the greyish countryside and stopped as they discovered a dark shadow by a huge old yew. The silhouette was not moving and Lucretia felt curiosity and fear battle inside of her. On one side she just wanted to run away, feeling like something dangerous was inside of this fog, but on the other side she just wanted to know where this was coming from and who would stand around in this atmosphere.

Her breath came from her mouth in little clouds as her feet took the decision from her and carried her forwards while her heart was racing in her chest.

"H-hello?" She stuttered as she was only two steps away from the tall figure, realising that it was actually a human and she gulped as the man turned slowly, revealing pale skin that seemed to unify with the fog, black hair and a quite handsome face with dark, piercing eyes that send a rather dangerous gaze at her.

Lucretia's first instinct was to run away, but the mystic aura surrounding him was holding her back. This was something new, a kind of man she had never seen before and it was her nature to be curious about new things. And additionally, there was a warm feeling spreading through her body as his expression changed, obviously only seeing a harmless girl instead of the danger he had seemed to expect.

"What do you want? And who are you?" He asked, suspicion swinging in his voice as he stared at her and Lucretia thought that she must have gone insane as she smiled at the man, answering:"I... I am Lucretia."

Her green eyes seemed to be glued to his dark ones and it was as if he was able to look directly into her soul, to her essence and dreams.

"Sanguini."

While speaking he revealed four sharp canines and Lucretia gulped, but did not step back. She had already heard to many tales about vampires, how dangerous the creatures of the night were and that she should never let herself lure by one of them, but now she could not get rid of her own fascination.

"What are you doing out here?" Lucretia asked softly, coming a little bit closer. "And did you make this nebula appear?"

"Curiosity can be dangerous, beautiful girl. Just as dangerous as my nature. Didn't your parents teach you to be wary about vampires?"

"They did, but I am not listening to them very often."

It surely was a odd connection between them – the young girl Lucretia and the vampire Sanguini. And if someone would have seen them sitting together under the old yew in the night he would have been convinced that she was lost, about to be his prey.

But in fact, Lucretia seemed to be safe when she was around him. Their first meeting had been awkward, but somehow they had started to talk. About the war, about politics, a topic she could talk about to nobody as no one was interested in the opinion of a woman, and about travelling.

Sanguini had been to many places on the world in his long life and Lucretia was fascinated by everything about his life.

They would sit together every night and he told her stories about a new place per night. Lucretia would listen, thirsting to hear more about all the places she would probably never see, feeling the freedom of his travels inside of her.

And in these summer nights she slowly realised that he was not a monster at all, he was very kind towards her after getting used to her, he would offer her his cloak if she was feeling cold, he would let her lean her head against his shoulder when she was tired...

Lucretia loved how she could talk to him about everything that was going on in her mind, that he understood her craving for freedom and they shared their curiosity, their will to discover new things and places.

It was as if she had found her soul mate in Sanguini, he brought light into her boring life and she could hardly wait for the day to pass by so she could go back to their meeting point, hidden by the black of the night.

Lucretia had never experienced love before, but she somehow believed that it had to feel like this – she could hardly wait to see him again, she wanted to be with him all the time, her heart was beating when she was sitting next to him and his touch made her nerves tingle.

"Will you take me with you when the war ends? I want to see everything," Lucretia mumbled into his shoulder one evening, pulling the heavy fabric of his cloak a little bit tighter around her slender shoulders. She looked up to him, smiling about his surprised expression – it did fit him more than he knew.

"You want to come with me?" Sanguini asked, feeling how suspicion came over him. It had taken him a little bit of time to trust her and now it was as if she wanted to test him again. He could not believe that she could actually be serious about accompanying him, but her smile only widened and she nodded:"Yes. I want to discover the world with you!"

Sanguini froze as she reached up, cupped his cheek and kissed him, not hesitating for a second. She tasted like strawberries and summer and Sanguini greedily kissed her back, falling for her taste immediately. He could not get enough of her and his senses were heightened even more, making his instincts come alive, the ones he had been able to suppress since they first met.

But now, his want started to rise and he could hear her heart beat, pumping her sweet blood through her veins. He wanted to taste her, make her his completely... His fingers wandered to her hair, shoved the silky strands away to reveal the soft skin of her neck and he pulled back from her lips, kissing her neck to let his teeth scratch over her skin.

Lucretia jumped from his arms and stumbled backwards as she realised what was happening and gasped in fear and surprise as she saw that his eyes were shining red in bloodlust.

"Run, Lucretia!" he snarled dangerously and Lucretia felt tears running down her cheeks as she started to run away from Sanguini, not stopping until she had reached the house and climbed up into her room.

For the first time she had seen his vampire side and it had scared her deeply, bringing back to her mind that there was no possible way to change is nature. Her heart was racing and she shivered so hard that she had to steady herself with holding on to the wall.

Lucretia's parents had wondered why their daughter had been so shaken the whole day, but they assumed that this was because of the newest attacks on London and had not asked any further, being far to occupied with their own concerns. As soon as the night had fallen over the manor again, Lucretia climbed out of her window and made her way to the yew, but Sanguini was not there like he had always been. The air was not filled with his calm voice, but with silence and the yew suddenly looked older than it had before, the leaves were turning brown and started to fall as a cold, sharp wind came up.

And from this day on Lucretia would wait for Sanguini to come back to her, spending her time in the old manor staring out of the window. And even after marrying Ignatius Prewett, a marriage arranged by her father who had thought that is daughter only needed the duty to give birth to children to be happy again. But the happyness stayed away from Lucretia and fortunately Ignatius did not demand anything from Lucretia. He seemed to sense that his wife was only able to live through the day because she could hold on the dreams that would never come true.