The Writing on the Wall
Prolouge
'This is the writing on the wall, scratched on the crumbling walls with rock. Scratched, so that when I go mad, I may read... read and remember...rember who I am. My name is Mimevas Lemqi. I am the daughter of Nereida and Rabastan Lestrange. I've never known my parents, I've never even glimpsed them. But, I know that they, like me, are huddled within the walls of this prision. Somewhere...unless they died. They could have died, they could have died long ago. I wouldn't know. I've never met them. But I know, I've always known: they abandoned me. They left me, left me to be raised in muggles orphanages. Why they did, I'll never know...
When I was very young, I used to wonder. When I was placed with a new muggle family, I asked: 'Why did you give me up?' Each new muggle, to me was a mother, a father. But they never kept me. Accidents happened, accidents that I could never explain, and so I was abandoned. Always, I was abandoned. Back to the orphanage for me! Nobody cared...
Like I said, I was young then. It hurt, being rejected. I thought that they were my parents, then they threw me away. With the next family it was the same, I thought mama and papa had come back to get me. Afterall, I was special, wasn't I? Why wouldn't they want me? Then, in a week tops, I was returned. Like an item bought from a store, but the customers were all dissastisfied. The all wanted their money back. That was the way it was. It never changed. It repeated itself, over and over again. Repeated, until player and played were sick of the game.
It never changed, but I changed. I grew older, and the older I grew the more I saw. Mama and Papa didn't want me. They tossed me away like a peice of garbage. I was garbage...trash...nobody would want me. I had to rely on myself.
The accidents never ended, they grew worse. Houses caught fire, rolls of toilet paper started chasing muggles around. Sounds insane...but I'm not insane...not yet.
The ministry of course, couldn't let things continue. They intervened. I was young, I had no self-control. That didn't keep me from being dangerous. Dangerous to their minds, dangerous amidst muggles. So, I was removed. Sent to live with a family of mudbloods. Sweet mudbloods...I had to suck it up. It didn't matter wether I liked it or not.
I sound angry...I am...I was...
That was when I first learned that I was a witch, that I belonged to the wizarding world. To a world which had rejected me, a world which had left me, left me to rot with muggles. Muggles were looked down upon...I hadn't known...I'd thought I was one...the mudbloods treated me like one...infact that was the last thing I wanted.
I had hoped, to divorce myself from my past. It didn't work, everyone brought it up. Everyone knew I was a Lestrange. They thought I was lucky. Lucky, to have escaped being raised by purebloods. To have been kept away from my own. I didn't think of myself as lucky, I thought of myself as alone, alone and cursed.
How could I not be cursed?
Nobody wanted me. No one. Not even Hogwarts would take me. I never got a letter. It was too late. I missed the first two years. I had to be taught at home by the mudbloods instead.
Different. That was my curse. It is my curse. I was born different. I've never managed to stop being different since. I thought things were bad then. I thought I couldn't be more different. I was wrong...
I was arrested. Arested and put here, in azkban. Thats what comes of my thinking things were as bad as they could be. I allowed myself to behave recklessy, why not? Things couldn't get worse! So, in my eagerness to learn magic, I learned it through casting spells on muggles...muggles...and occasionally, the children of the mudbloods.
Reckless. Wrong.
Now I pay the price.
Insanity. It will come soon. At least I can remember. I'll read this and remember. I HAVE TO!'
These words, sit etched into the wall of an empty cell. Below it, lie a few more. A few, which were hastily and feverishly scrawled:
This is written in my blood. I lost the rock...but blood serves as well. The inmate in the new cell bit me, the werewolf. Thats why I bleed. And theres a full moon tonight. Tonight...
I will escape.
A Trip to Azkaban
Chapter One
Shadows filled the dark corridors of azkban prison, shadows releaved only by the dim light of flickering candles. Flickering, flitting, in an eerie way that seemed perfectly at home with the pain filled moans and cries. Screams for pity, pleads for release. A day in azkban was depressing, a week, and you felt as though cheer had fled forever. And in a month...in a month you felt insanitys cruel claws ripping at your flesh.
Lulu Gilmore shivered, as she strode down the corridors, beside her strode Cornelius Fudge: the minister of magic. Casting a sideways look at him, she could see that he wasn't at ease. Far from it, he was terrified. But, he had come on business, serious business, and that at least took the edge off his fear. He had never been on the other side of those bars, he did not know what it was to fight for your very sanity. Lulu however, remembered that struggle all to well. Two years she had spent, two years in a waking nightmare. Nothing would ever wipe that time from her memory...she had been a different person then...Arrosa...that name wasn't safe. Not anymore...
Unhealthy...morbid...not worth thinking about now.
Firmly, Lulu grabbed hold of her fears. Later, she could dwell on them as much as she wanted. But not not here. Not now. Not in the ministers company. He afterall, thought that she was merely a useful employee of the ministry. He didn't know about Arrosa, he didn't know what she really was. Nor would he. Not if she had anything to do with it. Spies, were of great use to the dark lord. In her position, she could gather information. Information was what her newly risen lord needed, and information was what he would get. Nothing, not even her past, would interfere with that. She couldn't let it! She wouldn't!
'I know, its an awful place...' Fudge told her, shuddering in disgust. 'I don't like dementors much...but ah' here we are...the cell.'
Stopping in the middle of the corridor, Fudge turned to enter a cell. Lulu, followed suit. She knew why they were there, or at least she did vaguely. Fudge had breifed her...
Another escaped prisoner...
Not a deatheater...
A young girl, of no more than seventeen...
And the minister had only just found out...
The cell, was small and cramped. It smelled, it reeked. Reeked from centuries of human inhabitation. From humans living in ways than even animals would not stand. Even without the dementors, no one would be able to stay sane in such a place long. Lulu knew...
Rats, bugs, and fleas. Those alone were enough to make life a misery. Illness, hunger, and perpetual cold. Those turned misery to insanity.
'Obviously the girl was mad as hatter. A physchopath is my guess...' Fudge commented, as his gaze fell on a small cot which had been ripped in two. The stuffing, lay strewn across the floor of the cell. While an occasional gust of wind would send it whirling (like snowflakes) through the air.
'Yes, obviously Sir.' Lulu agreed. Two years would be enough...and even if it wasn't true in the girls case, it was best to agree. It was always safest to agree...
'Yes...' Fudge trailed off, as his eyes lite upon the wall.
This is the writing on the wall, scratched on the crumbling walls with rock.
Words...scratched on the wall with a rock...though by the look of it, not all had been written so. Blood...
Standing still, Lulu and Fudge read the words. As she read, her eyes filled with tears. Poor girl, pity mightn't save her, yet Lulu couldn't help but pity her. She knew how desperate she had been, she understood. She understood the fight against insanity...
'Physchotic!' Fudge cried, as he finished reading. 'And look, this isn't the only wall that physchopath has scratched up! They're all covered...to think that she's lose on society! We can't let the prophet get ahold of this! They'll have a feild day! As it is, with dumbledore claiming that the Potter boy is back...'
Words, fading to the background like mist...pitiless...it took a deatheater to feel pity...yet wizards like to pretend deatheaters were cruel...Fudge would send someone out to catch the girl. That was true cruelty...
Wether or not Fudge was right about the girls insanity, Lulu disagreed with him. The walls of the cell was covered, but how did that make her mad? Were inmates supposed to sit all day doing nothing? To do nothing...nothing to protect themselves from dementors? Or, did normal wizards think that the prisoners in azkaban had no right to anything? Did they think that they were lower than the meanest animal?
The answer: Yes.
And the girl would be caught...
'Lulu, I'll need you to catch her.'
'WHAT?' Starting out of her reverie, Lulu felt horror wash over her. Fudge couldn't be serious! Not her...she wouldn't...she couldn't! How could she?
'You heard me. You! I don't want anymore people knowing about this than I have to. I'm relying on you. Catch her, and bring her back. Do you understand?'
'NO! I mean...yes sir...but she's a physchopath...I'd be too frightened...'
'Lulu, you have guts. You have to do it I won't risk telling anyone else. Your job relys on it. Now...since thats settled...I think I'll just leave you here...to investigate of course! I'd stay, but...pressing business. I'm sure you understand...'
Wearily and with a heavy heart, Lulu nodded. What choice did she have? The dark lord needed spies. She was a spy. And spies had to do things that they didn't like. She'd have to find the girl. She'd have to catch her. That was the end of the matter. It was best to think of this Mimevas girl as an insane animal...a rabid animal...a danger...yes...she was...she needed to be caught.
The Vampire of Hellegrin Woods
Chapter Two
Darkness crept slowly over Hellegrin Woods, slowly, as it had now for three days. Three days...three days of freedome. She should have been elated by this knowledge, almost Mimevas wished that she was. But, for three days she had wandered through the dark wood. For three days, she had known hunger, she had known fear, and she had known cold. Her clothes, hung about her in tatters. The tatters couldn't keep out the chill wind. Food, what was there to eat? Nothing...nothing till the full moon shone. With the moon, she could eat that which she couldn't stomach as a human. Each night, she could hunt, though of what she hunted she had no memory come the day. No more...the full moon was gone. Now the moon was waning, now there could be no hunt.
Huddled beside a stream, Mimevas shivered. Food wasn't her only problem. Money, friends...she had none. And the aurors would be pursuing her. The aurors, knew what she looked like. They would recognize her, strange considering that she could hardly recognize herself. A glance at her reflection in the water, told her as much. Her hair hung past her waist in long dirty matts, her eyes held a haunted look, her face looked gaunt, hungrey...and her teeth...they were so even and white...so unnaturally even...so unnaturally white...
Thoughts trailing off, Mimevas looked up in alarm. Her hearing had improved, she heard things that before she would not have. For days, now she had been jumping at the slightest sound, but now, now she had reason to jump.
Her source of fear, wouldn't have been visible to her before. That much she knew, he was still to far away to see in the growing dark. Or he would have been, once. He wasn't hard to see now, and it wasn't hard to figure that he was stalking something. Hunter and hunted...what was his prey? Whatever it was, it didn't effect her, did it? No...but he was a man. He would know what had happened in the world since her arrest. More importantly, he might know what had happened since her escape...
'I'll turn the tables...' Mimevas muttered, jumping slightly at the hoarse sound of her voice. 'I'll stalk him...and when I catch him...he'll beg...'
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Zach grinned, as he slunk through the under brush. It was evening, and he was hungrey. Hungrey, as only a vampire who hasn't drunk his breakfast can be. And there, sitting by a stream was fast food. She wasn't perhaps, as tasty looking as some, she looked drained, almost as though another had supped from her first. That didn't matter, well...not much. Afterall, there wasn't really any alternative.
Ducking behind a tree, he peered out with caution. This was a matter to be handled with finesse, he was a master. His prey was oblivios to his presence, muggles were very stupid...most likely he could call her name and she'd come running yelling 'Bite me!' with joy. But, there wasn't any fun in that. A pro (such as him) enjoyed a bit of foreplay. It wasn't challenging...still...he could create the challenge himself...
'Could I have a Big Mac, with fries and a soda?' Zach yelled. Yelling alerted the muggle to his presence, yelling gave him a bit of a chase.
The muggle didn't run, she ducked behind a tree, glancing around, before dodging behind another on tip toe. What sort of a game was this? Certainly not his usual...
Still, why not adapt?
'I want that soda to be an extra large!' Zach screamed, as he slunk behind the safety of another tree. 'And give me a pickle with the Big Mac!'
'Bapabapabaa, mmmmmm I'm LOVING IT!' The muggle replied, tumbling adeptly into a bush.
Zach frowned, this was becoming a little bizarre. He had never come across a muggle before who actually answered. Who actually played his game. What did she hope to gain? What sort of a game was she playing? Or was she simply trying to distract him?
'On the count of three, I'll be coming at you.' Zach informed her loudly 'One, two, thrrreee...Ready or not, HERE I COME!' Running foreward at top speed, he came towards her. His cape flapped through the air, his arms were stretched out, and his laughter filled the air. Now she wouldn't resist...no one ever did... 'OWWWWWW!' A large stick banged down onto the top of his head, his cape was torn off with a loud rip, and a bunch of leaves met his searching fangs. What had just happened?
This question was answered the moment he looked up. The muggle girl...she was prancing in the middle of the clearing, with a stick in one hand, and his cape in the other. The cape was held out in mid air, held so that the blood red lining caught his eye.
With a roar, Zach ran foreward again. The cape floated over his head, the stick poked him in the side. 'OLAY!' The girl cried with truimph. Truimph? He was the one doing the stalking! And he wasn't about to give up so easily. If she wanted a fight, he'd give her a fight.
Again and again he came, faster and faster the cape whirred over his head in a red and black blur. Like a whirlwind, the girl hopped from one spot to the next, each time his grasp missed her by less than an inch. Then, just when a smile of satisfaction began to creep across her face, Zach managed to take a hold of her hand. A moment later, he had a hold of both, and was forcefully pulling her foreward.
The girl continued to struggle. She pulled backward, foreward, and sideway. She kicked out, and met only air. From side to side they moved, Zach pulling left, while she pulled right. He pulled her toward him, while she pulled away. A dance...to an outsider, it would look as though they were dancing. Come to think of it, they were! They walzed and tangoed, at one point Zach could even swear that he was doing the cha cha.
At first, the dance was accidental. Zach was horrified by it, she looked disgusted. She seemed to think that he was doing it deliberately!
Shaking his pelvis, he picked her up, trying with growing desperation to bite her. She however, leaned back to avoid his teeth...he twirled her around...she tried to kick...Then it hit him. He was dancing, and he was dancing of his own accord. So apparently, was she. Somewhere along the line, they had fallen into a rhythm...
Horrified, Zach stopped moving. He didn't intend to dance with anyone, he wouldn't! Besides, this food was a little to fast...or was it? His sudden stop, had put her off balance. One moment of weakness, just one, and he was able to grab her in such a way that she couldn't struggle. Her palm was raised in a fruitless attempt to ward him off...her palm...
'YOUR A STINKING WEREWOLF!' Zach cried out in disgust, as he spotted a five point pentagram star on her palm. Shoving her abruptly away, he stared at her. Vampires and werewolves were sworn enemies on principal. They despised one another. To think that he had been dancing with one! She too, should have looked naseuated. However, she looked far from it. Instead, she looked oddly enough, truimphant.
'Thats right, I am.' She informed him with satisfaction 'I'm glad that you've finally cottoned on. I wondered what took you so long...' She paused, arranging her features into a a queenly look 'Now, I'm going to ask you some questions, and I demand that you answer them. Got it? Good...Otherwise I'd have to teach you another lesson. Whats happening?'
'Happening?' Zach asked, eyeing the girl with confusion. By the look on her face, she obviously thought that she had beaten him. She seemed to have the idea that he was frightened of her. Frightened of a girl who resembled a corpse more than a living being...
'IN THE WORLD YOU IDIOT!'
'Oh...the world...Well Mac Donalds has some new orders, my friends tell me that they're not half bad either...Garbage men drink vodka while they work...believe me, I should know. I got drunk off one yesterday...'
'Thats not the sort of thing I want to know, I...' The girl started impatiently, before Zach cut her off.
'Look werewolf, I'll tell you what I want, when I want. I'm not scared of you. Vampires aren't that easily intimated! I though I wanted to drink you, but I changed my mind. Thats all. Now, if you don't mind (though I hope you do) I'm going home. I'm not going to talk to you a minute longer. I don't know what you want, and I don't care. Good night!' Bowing smartly, Zach turned to leave. The girl, didn't say anything. But she looked...crushed. Her eyes watered, a tear leaked down. God...not tears. Not tears...another one trickled down. Zach could feel himself growing desperate.
'Now ummm, see here werewolf. Don't cry! I...well goodbye you pickled gooseberry! Cry your eyes out. See if I care...'
'I don't expect you to. No one ever does. I'll just sleep by the creek, maybe eat some leaves for breakfast...they actually taste pretty good, when your hungrey. I don't expect you to take me home. Whats your name? I want to know who my murderer is...'
Zach's jaw dropped open. Take her home? The way she said that, it sounded like a demand! And murderer? He wasn't killing her! Was he? Did she have anywhere to go? Or anyone to go to? No...she was pulling his leg. Trying to make a fool of him. Besides, if she did die, there would be one less werewolf in the world. That could only be good...
'Goodbye! Goodnight, and so forth.' Zach told her. He would leave her, what did he care if she had nothing to eat? She could cry all she wanted...
She didn't cry this time though, instead she picked up a piece of dirt, and raised it to her mouth. 'I'm hungrey.' She said, glancing up with a demanding expression. Apparently she was trying to be pathetic. Well he didn't care! He didn't! He would't!
'D-e-l-i-c-i-o-u-s. I have a fever too. I'm dying. Goodbye.'
Demands. They all sounded like demands. But, someone Zach couldn't bring himself to leave her. She could come, but only for the night. Yes, she would only stay for the night. That was all. Only for the night...