Horray! Another chapter! I wrote it in one go at work today because I was very very bored and needed to look busy. So please enjoy my productivity!
Lupin couldn't see very far in the thick fog that surrounded him, but his keen wolf senses picked up a trace of lilac on the heavy, wet air – Minerva's scent. He stepped forward, following the trace of smell and crashed painfully over a low stone wall he did not see in the gloom.
"Ouch!" he yelped, rubbing his sore shins.
"Sorry about that, I should have probably given you a warning. These ruins are not the safest ones around." A pale hand appeared out of the darkness in front of Remus's face to help him to his feet. He took it gratefully and scrambled up to find himself face to face with the still young looking Minerva McGonagall.
"Ruins? Where are we?"
"Come," she tugged on his hand she was still holding, "We are at a place I once called home."
"You lived here? I hope it was in better shape then this when you did," he joked lightly, squinting to make out the remains of what was once a formidable castle.
Minerva ignored him, concentrating on picking her way through the heaps of rubble and grass covered foundations still pulling Lupin along. "Watch your head," she warned, ducking under a low stone arch that had been a small side entrance to the keep.
"Why did you bring me here?" Remus asked, following her down a worn stone spiral staircase that led into the dark earth.
Minerva stopped suddenly and Remus crashed into her back. She didn't answer him and he wondered if she had not heard the question or if she was just ignoring him. He was betting on the later and was about to ask her again but the hiss of a torch catching light and spreading a warm orange glow around them stopped his words. She looked up at him, the fire playing over her features and dancing in her bright eyes, Remus was transfixed.
"I come here to be alone, no one can ever find me here. We will be able to talk freely, with the knowledge that not a soul, living or dead, is listening in." That being said, she turned and touched the torch to the wall causing a chain reaction of torches to flare to life one by one to reveal an arched corridor. "This way," she was tugging on his arm again, pulling him down the loggia after placing her torch in an iron bracket.
Remus looked around, fascinated by the finely carved figures that seemed to leap out of the friezes above each arch and the still bright colors of the frescos that decorated the right wall.
"This looks Roman, like something that survived Pompeii," he remarked, wishing to stop and examine everything in finer detail.
"Yes," Minerva replied, pulling on his arm to keep him moving down the hallway, "My ancestors built their castle on top of an ancient Roman temple."
"A temple to who?"
She looked back at him, lips twitching in a small smile, "Minerva, goddess of war and wisdom."
"It's fascinating," he whispered in awe.
"It is," she agreed, still leading him further into the temple. "This was once an open air loggia that leads up to the main temple. Only after many of the minor temples and buildings surrounding the main one were badly damaged or destroyed during various clan wars, was it decided to bury it beneath the earth to preserve what was left." She stopped them at the end of the hallway, just inside the circle of light, leaving them staring at two giant columns bordering eerie darkness.
"What's in there?" he asked.
"That is the main temple."
"We aren't going in?"
"Only the high priestesses were allowed inside and even though my kin never worshipped the goddess, it did not mean they did not respect other's beliefs."
"We can't even look?" Lupin tried to keep the disappointment out of his voice and did not quiet succeed.
"There is not much left to see, but if you wish." Minerva grabbed a torch from the wall and stepped towards the inky blackness, Remus right at her heels. She took only a few stepped and Remus wondered why she stopped before noticing the water lapping inches from her feet.
"Not long after my ancestors buried the temple, the Roman aqueduct that supplied the castle and village with water broke, flooding the land for miles around. To save the crops and livestock, they diverted the water down here into the cavern and consequently flooded what they were trying to save. Over time it became like an underground dam and worked better then the old aqueduct system at supplying the villages and fields of my family's lands with water. And our enemies could never figure out why they could never defeat us during a siege." Cocking her arm back, she hurdled the torch out into the blackness.
As it flipped end over end, Lupin caught glimpses of glittering black water that lapped up against and around mighty Corinthian columns that bordered the massive hall. And as the torch plunged back down towards the water, it illuminated the head and torso of a colossal marble statue standing about waist high in the water. A soldier's helmet sat on top of carefully drilled curls that fell around a pale, cold face with blank eyes, down to the top her breastplate that was decorated with the frozen face of Medusa. Her hand rose out of the water to grasp a tall spear whose tip shone with gold plating. The hiss of the torch dying echoed loudly throughout the chamber and darkness enveloped the ancient woman warrior once more.
"Come on," Minerva shook the werewolf out of his daze, "While I don't think the torch is enough to disturb the spirits of this place, I don't want to wait around to find out." She turned left down a corridor that Remus hadn't noticed and began down it at a brisker pace.
"What spirits?" he asked, hurrying to catch up.
"Do you always ask so many questions?" she asked with amused exasperation in her voice.
"Yes," he said shortly, "What spirits?"
"An old family legend my grandparents would enjoy telling the children. My grandmother would say the spirits of the virgin priestesses still honor the old goddess but my grandfather would insist it was the souls of our kin who died honorably in battle." She shrugged, "No one really knows."
They walked on in silence, Remus staring at McGonagall's back, absorbing everything she told him and burning with more questions and having to bite his tongue to keep from voicing them aloud. He figured that when they got to wherever they were going to, she would tell him what he needed to know and it would be no good to begin bothering her now. Minerva McGonagall was a woman you did not rush. Looking to the right he noticed instead of frescos between the archways, they had been replaced with heavy ornate doors.
"Where do these doors lead?"
"Those are just old storerooms. Some are booby trapped in case any enemies ever did find their way down here, a few hold some family heirlooms, but most are empty. Here we are." She stopped in front of a door that looked just like all the others that lined the hallway. Gently she ran her fingers over a crest that was carved into the center. Remus tried to make out the symbols but it was to worn from countless hands passing over it throughout the eras.
Golden lines of light started from each of the four corners of the door and wound their way through the carvings to meet in the center, causing the crest to glow under the professor's hands. The lines faded away as the doors split apart silently and both witch and wizard stepped through.
Lupin was surprised to say the least. A cozy sitting room with a fire already crackling merrily in the hearth was not what he expected at all. Minerva had to laugh at the look on his face as she discarded her cloak over the back of a comfy looking armchair.
"What were expecting? An antiquity garden? A library filled with musty books and decaying scrolls? Or perhaps the family burial chambers?"
"Yes," he blurted out, watching her make herself comfortable on the loveseat.
"I'm sorry to disappoint," she said with a laugh, "But I thought we would be more comfortable here. The garden is overgrown, the library is cold and drafty, and the bones of my ancestors aren't the most comfortable things to sit on."
Remus stared at her, he couldn't help it. He had never seen her look so relaxed and happy before. During their journey down here, her hair had loosened from its tight knot and wisps of it curled down the sides of her face and neck, framing her big green eyes she usually had hide behind plain square spectacles. Her robes were open at her throat and he followed the pale column down to where he could see just a hint of cleavage. The soft green material molded around the curve of her breasts and hips giving him a taste of the womanly figure he knew what beneath. In a word she was gorgeous.
"What?" she asked, noticing his stare.
Remus fought the blush rising to his cheeks upon getting caught checking her out. "Those aren't your usual robes," he covered.
"Of course not," she waved a hand dismissively, "I wouldn't want to get my teaching robes all dirty walking around this grimy old place." With her wand she conjured a tea pot and cups. "I'm assuming you'll be wanting some tea."
"Actually I could do with something stronger," Lupin said hesitantly, "That is if you have anything."
Again she gave him that small smile and rose from her chair. "Would you prefer wine or scotch?" she asked moving towards a large cabinet in the far corner of the room.
"Wine sounds lovely."
Returning to her seat, she placed a bottle of red wine on the low coffee table and efficiently transfigured the tea cups into crystal wine glasses. She handed a glass of the ruby liquid to him before settling back in her seat, tucking her legs beneath her and cradling her own wine in her hands.
Looking at him over the gold trimmed rim she asked, "Where would you like me to begin?"
A/N: In case you can't tell I really like classical art and architecture. I guess it comes from being a history/art history major. I hope I didn't go too over board in the desciptions but I couldnt help myself, I just got really excited!