Welcome and Salutations! For those first time readers, thank you for taking the time to read my story. I'm quite fond of it, so far. For those returning, I have updated all the chapters to correct those annoying grammar and spelling errors no one is fond of. Feel free to re-read all chapters as a few minor things might have been changed and/or updated pertaining to the plot line but nothing major. Thanks again for reading and I would love to hear any advice, suggestions, feedback, etc from all readers.
Thanks and enjoy!
Emerald J. Beckett
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Harry Potter characters. They belong to J.K. Rowling. All original characters introduced in future chapters are of my own creation.
Ch.1 - Mysterious Visions
A cloud of despair hovered over the castle in which the students of Hogwarts' School of Witchcraft and Wizardry resided. A few days were left in the term and the students would be able to travel home to their families. Classes were canceled for the younger students, but the older ones still needed to finish their final exams to receive their marks.
Deep within the castle, down in the dungeons, the 4th year students were quietly sitting at their desks, quills writing feverishly. It was not often Professor Snape gave written tests, especially in Potions. But it seemed even the faculty had been affected by the horrific events of the Tri-Wizard Tournament and no one was willing to question his motives why. The room was dimly lit with candles floating about as the Potions Master quietly moved around the room. He walked by a group of Hufflepuffs sitting near the back. One looked up but flinched as she made eye contact with her professor. She shuddered as she looked back down at her paper.
He glanced over her shoulder as he past and noticed most of her answers were blank. She hadn't even tried with the essay question. He rolled his eyes as he continued his walk around. "Twenty minutes left," he stated loudly, making several students jump. "Remember, once you have finished, you may go." He began to walk through the final row of students.
"No! What do you want?" a female voice stated rather softly.
He turned to see which student was talking, possibly trying to cheat with a neighbor. He glanced around the room but no one had stirred. Quickly, he turned and continued walking towards his desk at the front of the room.
"No! Leave me alone!"
He heard it again, this time louder. Turning, he noticed no one had moved.
The rumor of his ability to read people's minds was one that ran throughout the school, each year passed down to the first years by fellow house mates. If nothing else but a warning to those who dared think rude or embarrassing thoughts during Potions. Even after years, the legend still ran rapid throughout the student body. None of them, however, knew it was true. He began to read a few of their thoughts, the ones he believed would be cheating, but none of the students had anything on their minds but the test and the horrific events of the past few days. As some began to leave, he made eye contact, as if to see into their soul. This made quite a few Hufflepuffs as well as Gryffindors drop their tests on his desk and run from the room.
A glimpse of the dark forest flashed before his eyes. He was getting a vision, but from whom? He sat down at his mahogany desk and closed his eyes.
"Where are you taking me? What do you want?" he heard the voice of a female scream. The more he concentrated the more of the vision appeared. A student, which house he couldn't be certain, was being forced from the castle into the dark forest. Several hooded figures pulled her by the arms as she screamed for help. Deeper and deeper into the forest they dragged her until they stopped in front of another hooded figure, taller and more frightening than the rest. "Who . . . who are you?" he heard the student ask as she looked up at the hooded figure before her.
"Relax, dear one," the hooded figure replied.
He knew that voice. Cold chills ran throughout his body. Having once been a follower of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named and now a spy, he knew that voice to well. But it wasn't Potter in this vision. It was a female student. What did he want with her?
"It has been brought to my attention that you have special powers and skills." He glanced to his colleagues and then back to the girl. "Powers that would be valuable to my future endeavors." Stepping forward out from the shadows, the hooded figure took her by the hand and pulled her closer.
"What do you want?" she asked, flinching at his touch.
A noise from the present day classroom caused the Professor's attention to weaken. The vision before him disappeared and he glanced up quickly to see almost all the students but a few had finished their exams and was in the process of leaving. He turned his attention back to the vision hoping more would come.
Slowly the vision began to appear again. He rubbed his temples with his fingertips in hope that not much had been lost.
"Shh," was the hooded figure's only reply. The Professor could do nothing but sit and watch as the figure placed one hand on her head and the other on her heart. He bowed his head, as if reading her mind and soul.
Suddenly, his head shot up and red eyes could be seen through the black nothingness of his hood. He took his hand off her head and slapped her across the face. "You're not the right one!" He turned to his hooded colleagues, the ones who dragged her from the castle. "How could she not be the one?" He glanced down at the girl now bleeding from the nose and mouth. He grabbed her by the hair of her head and pulled her even closer. "You have the gift! You're in the right house!" he whispered as he stared deep into her eyes. "How could it not be you?"
The girl, beyond frightened, just stared at him. Their eyes locked as if in some sort of mental battle. For a few moments, the stare was met eye to eye. A smirk began to appear on the Professor's face. He could not be more proud to think a student he had taught, at one point in time or another, was standing up so courageously to the Dark Lord.
Finally, he released his hold on her only to grab her by the neck and lift her high into the air. He stared into her eyes again as he threw her towards the others and began to retreat back into the forest. "Kill her. She is of no use to us."
"No!" The Professor heard the girl scream. He watched in horror as the hooded figures withdrew their wands and began hitting her with curse after curse. It only took one or two before she was knocked unconscious, but they continued with their relentless attack.
The Professor opened his eyes to view the present day again. He was sweating profusely as he glanced around the room. He was a former Death Eater. In his past he had committed unspeakable acts. But he could not bear to watch as a student was being harmed. He didn't know what to do. If this was going on now, he might be able to save her. But what if this was an old vision, brought on by the spirit of the girl already gone? He closed his mind to outside thoughts again to see the last of the beating. Her scream pierced through the air as the two hooded figures that had dragged her into the forest bent down and slowly raised the sleeve of her shirt to reveal her left arm. A mark had been burned deep into her skin.
He flinched and grabbed his own forearm where the dark mark had been burned many years ago. Just days before, it began to glow once again; the sure sign of His return. A sound deep within the dark forest caused both him and the hooded figures to jump, knocking him backwards out of his chair.
"Lets go!" one of the hooded figures shouted at the other. He began to look around nervously for the source of the sound.
"What about her?" the other asked, as he too began to nervously look around. The dark forest was filled with creatures of the unknown. Death Eaters yes, but they too were once students of Hogwarts. Their memories of stories told around the common room began to flash in the minds. The two cowered together as they heard the sound for the second time, coming closer.
"Leave her!" the first hooded figure shouted as the sound boomed overhead. They took off into the forest and out of view, leaving the severely beaten student behind. The vision ended.
Professor Snape sat up from the floor of his classroom and let out a breath he didn't even know he was holding. He quickly stood, sat his chair upright and took out a handkerchief from his top desk drawer. Never had a vision affected him so. He was both frightened and exhausted as if it were he trying to fight off the hooded figures. He wiped his face and sat down. The voices of the two sounded familiar but he could not place them. He wiped his face again. I have to tell Dumbledore. She could still be out there. He glanced around at the empty desks in his classroom. Empty all but one.
"Professor?" stated a small but familiar voice from the back of the room. "Did you get my vision?"
