The Different Kinds of Fire!
Warning:This is an EXTREMELY Dark Fic! Character Death (OC),Violence,Mind Control(via the Imperious curse),killing of an infant.
This Fiction is based on the song: Crazy Man Michael, by Fairport Convention (This is a songfic)
Within the fire and out upon the sea
Crazy Man Michael was walking
He met with a raven with eyes black as coals
And shortly they were a-talking
The sun was setting into the sea as Alastor Moody walked along the lonely beach, the sea shifting closer and closer to him. The red sky seeming to set the ocean on fire near the horizon,the purpling sky above it giving it the look of a thousand orange flames. The almost silent shift of the sea seeming to seep into his thoughts. He could see the fire he had created near the dark shadows of cliffs in the distance,the sound of the waves breaking against the rocks,the only real sound to be heard. And even then it was a natural roar that seemed to sooth and heal Alastor's soul and agree with his aching heart and mind.
He was a warrior. He knew this. Defender of the weak,protector of the innocent and avenger of those who could not seek it. Though the many sleepless nights that he had endured because of his actions seemed to haunt him. Not because of what he had done but because of what many others had forced him to do.
And now,walking upon what he felt was the only place aside from Hogwarts that he could go to rest,no matter what the circumstances;he felt at ease. The long forgotten beach of a long forgotten and dead childhood and younger life. So much like himself now:No clean sands that the ocean was capable of wiping clean but rather smooth pebbles,hard and unyielding. Shaped by the sea that they seemed to belong to,forever longing to be near it. Much like himself..shaped by his job,hard like the pebbles somehow a slave to his way of life. The distant healing roar settling into his movements. Even his aching bones seeming to be soothed as he walked back to his fire.
As he approached the high flames, that contrary to the fiery ocean,glowed green from the driftwood that he used for kindling,it made him smile to think of how the see was able to contrast itself. He noticed for the first time, a dark shadow that if it were not for the flames, might as well have become a shadow himself. Moody sighed. Could he not have at least 1 hour to himself. How could they have found him! Approaching cautiously, wand held at the ready, as he stalked forward, using the sounds of the sea to hide him, until he could identify the man standing where he had thought he would be safe.
He stood just out of range of the green light, watching the black clad man, far to young to be what he was. Standing Tall above his flames, he too seeming to enjoy the place where, if Moody had a choice, he would be sent out on a burning vessel to join its ebb and flow when he was finally permitted to die. "Severus Snape? What the hell do you think you're doing here lad!" The man...barely a man, turned to look at him, in shock, pale sallow skin, almost luminescent in the green glow of the driftwood fire. Obviously berating himself for dropping his guard in favor of enjoying the beauty of Moody's place of Healing.
"Your future, your future, I would tell to you
Your future, you often have asked me
Your true love will die by your own right hand
And Crazy Man Michael will cursed be"
"I have a message for you " Said the boy with a stiff bow, stepping forward making the shadows of his face look almost ghostly. "Is that right lad?What might that be?" said Moody finally stepping into the bask of the fire, a slight sneer on his scar marked face as he did so, the sunsets fire starting to die, as the stars started to light the sky and a orange Moon came out to greet them from behind the cliffs "It is more of a warning,actually: If you persist on hunting He-who-must-not-be-named's followers, you will pay a dear price" he said simply, crossing his arms in front of him, looking seriously at Moody.
Moody tilted his head, and sighed, why did his place of rest have to be tainted by this. Taking a seat, willing to sacrifice the advantage of standing,to look relaxed. Nothing could touch him here. This was his place. Not even Hogwarts made him feel at peace like this place. "What is your master? A fortune teller!" Asked Moody with a smirk, adding another piece of driftwood as the fire on the water finally died, and his own green fire sparked back to life. "The Dark Lord knows where your heart lies . He wants me to tell you what he has foreseen" said Snape cautiously, taking seat to show that he meant no harm.
Moody let out a small cough of irritation, summoning a bottle wandlessly and two small warn tin mugs, pouring Snape a cup of Brandy, even if he would not accept it, it floated in front of him until he took it. If they weren't scowling at each other, someone would have thought them friends. "He is not a seer lad. But you're here now so lets have it?" Moody said watching him as the boy tested his drink for poisons and truth serums before taking a sip. "He wants you to know that if you persist: He will have your wife killed and he will make sure that you do the job yourself!" he said slowly, coughing at the strength of the brandy. "And to know that he is serious he asked me to bring you a present..." with that he threw a small package at Moody, who in his rage tore it open, to find a lock of his wife's hair smeared with her own blood, he knew it had to be her hair...black and silver speckled, he looked up a different kind of fire in his eyes.
Michael he ranted and Michael he raved
And beat at the four winds with his fists-oh
He laughed and he cried, he shouted and he swore
For his mad mind had trapped him with a kiss-oh
"What have you done to her!" he demanded. His voice a harsh and dangerous whisper, as he stood and Snape did the same! " WHAT THE FEK DID YOU DO!!!" His voice drowned out as the seas demeanor seemed to change with his own and the winds picked up. He repeated this over and over again, the hair still wrapped in his hand,His arms flailing in the darkness, making him look crazy, finally he leapt forward to strangle the whelp, only to trip in his rage. The air suddenly turned cold, and the wind icy, whipped about them, making Snape's robes sway around him, the green fire starting to rise in the wind, sending green sparks into the air before the wind grew to strong and the emerald fire start to die, as did the purity of his chosen place of rest, as he felt a grave sadness come over his heart. He knew it was Dementor's, but his rage,anger and worry stopped him from doing anything, and the next thing he knew he was on his back, a dark looming figure over him...a Dementor...he was going to be kissed...
He tried to summon up a happy memory. But all he could see were flames. High flames, high above him! Orange!A dangerous orange, Nothing like the blood and warming red of the seas flames or the calming green from a driftwood fire, Nothing like the Seas flames of healing...but a dangerous Flame, that fed on everything... on life! Thick billowing black smoke. Someone screaming...Crying. Running, Names being screamed...and then the fire died ...he was going to loose his soul...worse than death...he heard his name … "Alastor.... Alastor... Alastor"...
"You speak with an evil, you speak with a hate
You speak for the devil that haunts me
For is she not the fairest in all the broad land?
Your sorceror's words are to taunt me"
When he finally opened his eyes he found himself leaning against the driftwood log he had been using as a seat,blood trickling down the back of his head where he must have hit it,his head pounding. His wife's hair in still in his hand, staring up at Snape, who had forced his mouth open for what tasted like essence of Chocolate...it felt better...not much...but at least he was warmer...he turned his head to look at the time of night. The moon was now prominent in the sky, its Eerie reflection in the water, the stars joining the moon, to look like millions of golden glowing flames, hidden in the depths of the glowing blackness...He heard the sound of the tainted roar, and remembered what had just happened...
"...I don't believe ya!"he said hoarsely "You're just trying to trick me into something! Voldemort wants something! And no amount o trickery is gonna get me to believe that! My Wife would NEVER allow herself to be caught by you lot! She knows better!!! Tell Voldemort he can try an torment me all he wants but I aint effing falling fir it!" his Scottish Accent getting thicker as his emotions ran rampant in his voice.
He took out his dagger of fire and of steel
And struck down the raven through the heart-oh
The bird fluttered long and the sky it did spin
And the cold earth did wonder and start-oh
Snape smirked his hands still crossed before him, his black eyes glowing in the embers of the green flames, another figure from out the dark came to join him, The Dark Lord Smirked at Moody who reached for his wand, only to realize he was without it, shooting a glare at Snape who pulled out his wand and twirled it in his fingers looking rather smug about it! Moody glared at him, The Bastard was going to pay!!!
"Alastor Moody. I had hoped you would understand our position without needing to be forced to?...however seeing as you are rather reluctant to do so..." Voldemort took out his own wand as he stood before Moody. Moody stared up at him as he raged in his mind, all he could really think of was how much he wanted to wipe the smug look off Snape's face.
"Now Alastor, try to behave yourself as you stand up" said Voldemort as he stepped back to permit Moody to stand. Wand still trained on him, Moody glared at him, but stood hand on his knee, groaning as his other hand went back pressing against it to supposedly support his standing up, when he had a knife hidden in its folds.
Standing up straight he pulled out his knife from his back pocket and lunging forward he stabbed Snape right in the chest. Though he couldn't be sure where he struck him. It felt extremely good to do so, however he did not expect the searing pain that followed, as he watched Snape flail around with a knife in his chest, the pain crawled up to his scalp, before he was thrown back over the embers of the fire, to hit the wall of the cliffs he had been settled under. He let out a low groan as he tried to sit up only to have a wand pressed against his forehead just above his magic eye...He soon realized that the pain he had felt was from a Diffindo that must have cut across the back of his shoulder and back...as a sharp pain spread on the top left side of his body making his arm feel numb and cold.
Snape was still flailing on the ground he saw... he would have smirked if it hadn't been for the fact that there was a wand pressed against his head and Voldemort was leaning over him "Do what you want an get it over with" he said with the sigh of a man who had accepted his fate and was now just waiting for the inevitable. He was shocked when Voldemort let out a high pitched cackle the winds of the sea carrying it away as he did so. "Oh I do not want to harm /you/ Alastor." he said as confusion crossed Moody's face, making the Dark Lord Smirk " Oh you will be made an example of. That I can promise" Moody was about to open his mouth when the dark lord stood back, and pointed his wand at Moody who was slowly loosing consciousness due to blood loss...
The last thing that Moody had physically heard that night was: "Imperio". The sky seemed to spin above him as the pebbles and cliff underneath him held him against them, the cold sticky blood on his back, and the hot cut mark that contradicted the cold were the only real things he remembered before he was sent into a blissful blackness...no fires or light...Just a pleasant voice suggesting things to him...His body felt sick and tired. nausea and fever breaking it down, and his mind that was normally so strong now under the control of a madman...
"Oh, where is the raven that I struck down dead
That here'd lie on the ground-oh?
I see but my true love with a wound so red"
Her lover's heart it did pound-oh
When the voice told him to Apparate home to his wife...He was only to happy to comply with it...he wanted to be with his wife...He wanted her to take his pain from him and make him feel better...She was good at that...she would take his pain away...that's all he could think of...the voice was right...he Apparated home...
When the voice told him to go into the room and sit on the bed and watch her sleep, see her beauty as she did so...Watch her chest rise and fall as her hair was flared against the large pillows,her perfect breasts hidden under the quilt that he had helped stitch together on long nights before the fire. Her features so inviting....He did so because he wanted to see her...Mark her beauty, watch her sleep, as she dreamed untroubled dreams...He wanted to be reminded that there was good in the world.
When the voice told him to wake her, he did so...reluctantly...but he was in pain and needed help...He wanted to feel her fingers sooth his fevered flesh...
When he woke her she smiled up at him then saw the blood and the marks on her poor husbands face and she sat up instantly wanting to see what was wrong, The baby in the crib started to cry as she heard her mothers surprised yelp at the cut on her husbands back shoulder...
When the voice told him to shut baby Victoria up, he thought it was a good idea...his head was pulsing and he felt sick. the noise of Victoria screaming made his head want to explode, so he stood up pushing his wife (Becks,short for Rebecka) back and went to the crib...The voice telling him to pick her up and shake her...Victoria would become quiet if he shook her....He wanted her quiet...he needed her quiet...So he shook her...
When the voice told him to stop his wife from getting in the way of keeping Victoria quiet he did so, by knocking her back with his injured shoulder...Victoria needed to be quiet so he could think...but the pain from knocking her back made his arm ache and the voice told him that she hurt him....how could she love him if she was willing to hurt him...she betrayed him...how could she do such a thing...
When the voice told him to stop her screaming he knew he had to or he would die...he felt like he was going to have his brain bleed out through his nose if she continued screaming...He had to keep her quiet! he would do anything if she would just shut up!!! He would rip his own ears out if it meant silence...but the voice reminded him of the sword he kept on the mantle....perhaps she would keep quiet if he had the sword...if she didn't keep quiet now he would die...couldn't she understand that...
When the voice told him to drop the baby and pick up the sword to shut his wife up he did so...it was a good idea...the baby was no longer screaming...it was limp in his hands...he dropped the baby into the crib like a rag doll and picked up the sword...The woman he thought he loved still screaming....He had the sword...
When the voice told him to swing it at her...he couldn't...this was all wrong...he didn't want to hurt her...why would he do that....she was going to take his pain away...she was going to make him feel better....she loved him....he /loved/ her....
When the voice suggested that he hug her...try and make her feel better...he did so....he wanted to make her feel better....he wanted to feel better...When she struggled and started hitting him, and screaming sobs broke the air around his head..every pound of her fist on his flesh sending new waves of pain to his body,the screaming making his head feel about ready to drop of his neck,
The voice suggested that he could stop her...he still had the sword in his hand...he could shut her up...stop her hurting him, when she was supposed to heal him...He thought it was a good idea. He pushed her back and stabbed her through the heart with the sword...Becks was silent...Victoria was silent...Everything was Silent...
When the voice told him to go to sleep on the bed he did so...His head felt like he needed to lie down...he just needed to rest his head and it would all be better....
When Alastor Moody woke up, a green skull out side his window, yet another green flame...but this one toxic and wrong...unnatural. His bedroom full of Auror's and Mediwizards tending to him...He remembered every detail of what he had just done...When the Mediwizards felt him stable enough to go to 's he refused saying he needed to stop the bastards....The Auror's gravely informed him he was going to be taken under custody and held for questioning...He remembered he had killed Snape...or wounded him...He needed to get back to the beach!
He nodded to the Auror's but before they could do anything he was out of the bedroom he would never again visit...and went to go and find the man he left at the beach...but when he arrived there was no one there...Just blood smeared on the walls of the cliffs base...and near the fire...The sound of popping announced the arrival of someone...He looked up to find Albus and an Auror standing a distance away.
"WHERE IS SNAPE!!! I don't understand!!!" He yelled over the roar of the sea that mimicked his mood...Albus came forward and wrapped his arms around Moody, making Moody want to back away but couldn't...the old man held him fast. "Where is Snape...I...I killed her Albus....I killed them..."He sobbed into the old mans soft beard "You didn't mean to Alastor...we know that...but you need to go with your men...they know you would never do that.." said Albus sodtly, soothing him as he stroked his friends back mindful of the back of his shoulder."I...I cant be strong Albus...my heart...it feels..."he broke down into sobs clutching onto the old man ...his friend wishing he were dead...not knowing what to feel... angry... sad...broken ...betrayed...lost ...hurt ...heart-broken...he was heart-broken...
Crazy Man Michael, he wanders and walks
And talks to the night and the day-oh
But his eyes they are sane and his speech it is clear
And he longs to be far away-oh
After that day Moody vowed revenge on all those that had done him wrong...He would not kill them...He had learned that night that there were far greater punishments than that of death. He would use all that was with in his power to hunt down the bastards who played tricks on his mind... He would go by the book and he would arrest them and put them somewhere where their dark deeds would haunt them to the end of their days!
He would not allow himself to be engulfed by his own crimes until the last of those Bastards were put away or until he became useless and more of a hindered to his cause than a help...He prayed that day would never come... He would go mad if he were ever made useless...
Michael he whistles the simplest of tunes
And asks the wild woods their pardon
For his true love is flown into every flower grown
And he must be keeper of the garden
As he stood on the beech of his long forgotten youth a few days after the events, he stared out at the boat that he was sending his wife and daughter out to sea in...the green fire behind him a hurtful memory of a night not so long ago...the fire of the sun lighting the sea from behind him making the stars die as the gold and red flecks in the sky from the sun lighting the stray clouds mocked the events...or perhaps...Moody thought...Perhaps it was just the world honoring his wife and daughter....
He shot a bright blue flame out to sea hitting the boat and setting it alight...cleansing clean blue flames lit the area of the sea around the boat as Moody stood in the clean early morning mist on the beach that seemed to clear as the sun rose higher and higher, he sang and whistled songs he had once enjoyed with his wife and daughter.
Somewhere deep in his mind he chanted to himself that this was his fault and he prayed that what ever force was out there, would find it in their powers to forgive him for the crimes he could not...An explosion sounded from somewhere where the boat should have been and ash and smoke rose into the air and spread, Sparks like that of rainbows flew into the air and he knew that his wife and daughter...his true-loves would share their souls with the rest of the world and their love and energy would join everything good...and he would fight for that...He would be keeper of the good...and protect what he could...
Alastor Moody stood on the beach, and swore an oath into the flames of that green fire, that he would not rest, he would be Protector of the good and Enemy of the bad...this was what he swore that day on the beach...This was his penance and he was going to pay every single penny of it until one day he would be allowed to die and hopefully join his loved ones....
Fin
Authors Note:
The hair Moody was given is obviously fake.
Snape is very young. Probably 16 or 17 depending .Oh and he survived of course...*sniffs to think of his fate*
And for some unknown reason everytime I downloaded this the story had paragraphs and sentances missing or cut. (Had to download it 3 times before it worked) I /think/ its alright now. But if it seems that there are parts cut or sentences dont make sence please let me know...
Oh and this fic is based on the Lyrics to: Crazy Man Michael by FairPort Convention.