1. Another Chance
The world of Mora Cartea was dark.
Nothing could be seen for miles around, nothing but the black immensity of nothingness. The cries of one, terrified scream echoed through her mind, still ringing violently in her ears. His shouts would forever go unanswered, leaving Mora listen as it pleaded for some chance, some miracle, something Mora did not know of, yet now she feared it so dearly.
And then suddenly, the scream faded away into Mora's infinite night, leaving her completely alone once again. And just as the world seemed as if it were to implode, destroying the last of the existence,
It didn't.
The wisps of warm breath fled across Mora's bare neck, sending an eerie chill up her spine. The faint whispers of voices around began to spread into Mora's ears, filling her head with more sound than she could bear. The voice grew louder and louder, each gaining their own expression, their own identity that Mora could barely distinguish for one another.
As Mora's veins began to slowly creak with blood again, her body began to awake from the near dead state it had been thrusted into. Pain spiked through her entire body, stretching from each and every limb to another. The sounds of anguish flew into Mora's throat, wrenching their way into her mouth. Unable to contain her pain any longer, Mora felt her mouth suddenly jerked open, letting out a scream of torment collapse from her lips.
The sounds of frantic feet submerged around Mora, anxious and worried murmurs growing louder and louder. Mora felt as if hundreds of daggers were piercing her entire body, unimaginable pain coursing through her.
As if awaking from an all too terrible nightmare, Mora felt her entire body leap forward in the bed. Sitting erect now, Mora chest burned as if her lungs were on fire, set ablaze inside her.
Panting heavily, Mora felt her head being harshly tilted back, a sour yet far to familiar potion shoved mercilessly down her throat. Gagging for breath, Mora suddenly felt her entire body shocked fully awake again, the numbness that had once consumed her fading away.
Slowly, Mora let her eyelids lazily crease open, instantly being blinded of the blazing white light that immersed the entire room. The same feeling Mora remembered so much from what felt like days ago. She knew exactly where she was, again. Once again, she opened her worn, hazel eyes, an old pair of faces greeting her awakening.
"Professor Dumbledore?" Mora stuttered, still trying to regain control of her breathing. Was this Dumbledore? He looked just like the Dumbledore that Mora remembered for mere days ago, yet he was so…different.
A long, cascading white beard fell of his chin, much more intensely than the one Mora had remembered. Wrinkles began to slowly consume this man's face, the lines of age signaling a very large birthday numeral coming up for the professor. This Dumbledore looked a good twenty years older than the one Mora remembered from a few hours ago.
"Good morning, Miss Cartea," he responded cheerfully.
How long had she been asleep? Surely, it could not be more than a few days. The longest she had ever been put in the hospital wing unconsciousness was for three days, was this the same case? The last time Mora was here for so long, another memory had ravished her mind, taking control of her heart as well as her mentality. Had this been the same case?
Racing her mind, Mora felt helpless as she came up with absolutely nothing. Surely she had to have had a memory. What else could be the cause of her sudden hospitalization? And then, before she could herself any warning, the images of mere moments ago came flooding back to her, the memory the past scene in the girls' lavatory bombarding her all at once.
Tom.
The snake.
Eric.
The fight.
The spell.
And then, the rest blurred away into the back of Mora's mind. Running rampant down her torn face, tears began to well inside of Mora's eyes, unable to contain themselves any longer.
"There, there, it's all alright, you're safe now," a voice cooed as Mora felt herself being pulled quickly into a women's arms.
"Madame…Garrah?" Mora choked out through a sob, practically suffocating in the women's embrace.
"Yes Mora, Shhhh," she cooed. As she pulled away, Dumbledore whispered something into her ear. Taking one last remorseful look upon the girl, Madame Garrah shuffled away, leading into the office beside the hospital wing, leaving Mora and Dumbledore utterly alone.
"Professor," Mora started suddenly, ignoring the pain swelling through her arms, "How, how long have I been out?" She looked around nervously. Every time she had awakened, beside the time at St. Mungo's, Tom had been there.
Waiting patiently at her side as if nothing else in the world existed. And now dark surprise filled Mora's eyes. He wasn't there. Despite how angry Mora could ever be with him, she had never expected this.
Mora watched as the once relieved look faded out of the old man's eyes, leaving them dull and full of misery. She felt taken aback by this sudden change, anxiousness growing inside her.
"There is much I must tell you, Mora," he said softly, sitting lightly into the chair at her bedside. A lump grew deep inside Mora's throat as she heard his grave tone. "This will not be easy, for either of us," he whispered.
"Professor…" Mora stuttered, choking through her words. "How long have I been sleeping?"
"At least seven hours, however I feel it was longer," Dumbledore replied.
"How much longer?" Mora gulped, realizing that the situation had to be much worse than she expected. However, she did not realize how bad it was.
"Thirty three years."
"Wha….what?" Mora stuttered. "Oh, no, no, that's impossible," she insisted nervously, trying to ease her way out of this entire mess.
"In a way, it is, for the truth of the matter is, you really have only been sleeping, here in the hospital wing that is, for seven hours. Seven hours ago, you were in the year nineteen forty-five. And in the blink of an eye, here you are, nineteen seventy-eight, being found hours ago in the Gryffindor common room. About thirty three years after anyone has seen you."
Mora store back in utter silence. She felt as though her stomach were in knots, tying all of her intestines together tightly. Fighting for breath, Mora grasped her neck, fighting the wheezing sensation taking over her normal breathing pattern.
It was almost as if she spiraled back into the lifeless state she had been trapped in mere minutes ago. Opening her mouth as wide as her jaw would allow, Mora was able to force a few good shards of air in, allowing her to breathe once again.
"H-how?" she whimpered, still unconvinced that this could ever be happening. How was it that she had merely had fallen into a new decade? Was that even possible?
"That, Mora, is the question I have been asking myself for thirty years," Dumbledore explained, leaning closer. "It would seem that you are one of the last of a dying breed, Miss Cartea.
"It would seem, you are the Next Temparious."
