Chapter 4: The Village of Ottery, St. Catchpole
"Where are we?" I asked as I found myself in a dimly lit basement. The lights seemed to flutter as my eyesight adjusted to the surroundings. Again the questions began.
"How'd you escape? What happened?" Everyone seemed to be speaking at once and furthermore, it seemed my own burning inquiries would have to wait as my heart raced in my chest. The close call encounter was closer than I'd care to recall, but saw only two of their faces.
One man was short and chubby, with a round face made narrow looking by a thick, trimmed beard. The other man was much more sinister looking. One glance at him and it was as if I was staring at him for hours. The only proper term I could think of to fit the man, was evil. He had a tall stature, had a pointed, English nose and walked on two legs. There, the human similarities ended.
No man looked the way he did. His eyes were ice-blue, almost grey and reminded me of the mask on a Siberian husky's face. They held no emotion except malice and hunger. His teeth were yellowed and pointed , and the robes he wore exposed his chest- which was almost completely covered by a dark mass of hair that I could only speculate covered the rest of him, because his hand and arm were covered in it when he tried to grab me when I tried to duck into the floo. He also had fur over his entire face, it seemed every inch were covered in some type of whiskers. He had no eyebrows and his hairline receded, giving him the look that his hair slicked back and ran down his neck and onto his back. I only saw him for a few seconds, but it was enough to last me for the rest of my life.
I felt my right arm burn where Megan had grabbed it just moments ago.
"Delaney, you're bleeding." I looked down to see sure enough, she was right. I cradled it with my other hand, feeling the blood trickle down my fingertips.
"It's nothing. It's a scratch." I replied simply. Darcie tried to touch it, but I swatted her hand away. "Anyway, after Darcie finally got through, they tried to go through the window and I blasted it out at them and hurt some of them with the glass. There was about 6 or 7 of them altogether. As I was saying, after I blasted the glass, the other couple that weren't hurt, came rushing through the window at me. But I ran like hell afterwards to the floo, when one of them grabbed me." The events ran through my head as I retold the tale, motioning to my now bleeding arm. "I got him off though, and I arrived here. And that's really all there is to it."
"They didn't hear where you were going, did they?" Shavai inquired, whirling around to face me at the bottom of a staircase. It appeared we were in someone's basement.
"No, I cast a spell that made it where they couldn't hear me. The Muffliato." I answered, still clutching my arm. Man, it stung so bad and was bleeding a little more than I anticipated. And with the stinging sensation came the putrid face of the man who gave it to me. I sat down exhausted, at least it wasn't as chilly as outside in here. "Guys," I called everyone's attention to me once again as they were scoured about, taking a look at things. "I think we got a bigger problem." I finished my sentence, trying to get my breathing under control.
"I'm not a hundred percent on this, but I think I ran into F-F-Fenrir Greyback." I searched the faces of my friends for their reactions. Megan and Shavai looked like death warmed over after I said the name, and Darcie, Whitney, and Katie looked at me like I had lobsters falling out of my ears. Probably uncomprehending how terrified they should truly be.
"Who's that?" Darcie asked, stepping towards me. Whitney and Katie kept their eyes on me like two A students cramming for a test. I had forgotten they knew so little about this world. So Megan, Shavai and I tried our best, to lay it all out for them.
"He's the guy that- well, he's not actually a guy-" Megan began to try to explain.
"He's a werewolf." I concluded. They switched their attention span to me for a second. "He's the one that bit and turned Professor Lupin into one." All three of them stared at my arm in horror and took a step back. "No, not me, you nimrods. He did not bite me. He scratched me. I don't know why, but there is a difference."
"So what then? We will just have to be extra careful during the full moons and we'll be fine." Whitney offered us as a conclusion.
"It's not that simple!" I said sternly, rising to my feet. "He's also a Death Eater, so he'll also be looking for us." I shifted my eyes both ways and lowered my voice to make them listen after a moment of absolute silence. "He also has a nasty habit of killing and biting people for the hell of it. Sometimes, he even does it while he is still in human form. There also is a rumor that he can transform at will." Darcie thought hard for a moment as I brushed passed her to the foot of the stairs.
"But I thought the rule was that werewolves could only transform during full moons." She reminded us, hoping we were simply trying to scare her.
"It appears that rule has been broken." Shavai said as we all gathered to the staircase steps.
"Now, where are we?" I finally asked. "Has anyone been through the trouble of seeing if we were anyplace safe, yet?"
"Already done." Katie said, turning her attention to Darcie to continue in detail.
"We're in the village of Ottery, St. Catchpole." Darcie answered. "This is the basement of Amelia Trelawney. She's a sweet old woman who used to teach at Hogwarts many years ago – even before Snape!" She continued to fill me in as we walked up the stairs slowly. "But it ended quickly. Appearantly a student in one of her classes made a mix that blew up and did a nasty number on her face. But other than how she looks, she's really nice. She said she's a seer and that she knew we were coming, that's why she was already making cookies and tea when we started arriving." I thought to myself how odd that was. And did she say her last name was Trelawney? I opened the door with my wand ready and aimed to see the back of an old woman moving a porcelain tea set off of an antique tea trolley and onto a long, rectangular coffee table. Then she looked at us. And the first thing I fought back was a gasp. It seemed as though she had no nose. Once of her eyes was partially sealed shut, and the rest of her skin on her face was different colors that ranged from olive to burn marks all about her face. But she had grey hair pulled back in a tight bun, and she had kind eyes from what I could see.
"Don't be disturbed at my appearance. I assure you, I mean no harm." She said with a noticeable lisp. "Tea's set." She announced cheerfully. I admit, I distrusted her, even though she gave me a kind of warm sensation as if the woman could be my own grandmother. I kept my wand raised.
"I knew you would be coming."
"So I've heard." I answered wearily. She offered me a seat on her couch, which I declined.
"Cookies ready to come out, won't be but a minute, dears." She said excusing herself walking with a very noticeable limp to the kitchen.
"How do you know we can trust her!" I whispered hoarsely to the others.
"She was a professor!" Megan yelled in a hushed tone to me.
"Yeah? Well so was Snape!" I whispered back. Megan thought of another point.
"She was in the Order of the Phoenix!" She yelled to me.
"Yeah? So. Was. Snape!" I yelled spacing out every word for emphasis. I truly wanted to be able to trust this woman. She entered back in the room with a steaming plate of chocolate chip cookies, and began doling out either tea or milk to each of us with cookies. I lowered my wand but kept it handy for the time being, opting to stand by myself with my back towards the warmth of the lit hearth. After a moment of silence sipping at her tea, Amelia finally spoke.
"Don't worry. I wouldn't advise you to trust anybody. That'd be the worst thing you could do. However, don't you think since this is my house and I, being a poor old woman, I'd deserve a little conversation? Like 'How's the weather?' 'How are you today?' 'Where do the Weasleys live?" My jaw just about dropped to the floor when she said that.
"Are you related to Sybil?" I asked, recognizing the last name. She motioned to a portrait above the fireplace mantle. There was a gorgeous middle aged woman, posed solemnly with a crystal ball that looked as though she were a real, live, sleeping woman through a window rather than a simple portrait.
"Indeed. That is my grandmother Cassandra." She took a sip from her tea as the fire crackled in the background. "It was once said that she was given the gift from the gods to see the future, however she was also cursed by the fates that no one would ever believe her predictions. Sad, really." We all agreed at the news of this.
"However, I can assure you, you needn't be afraid of me. I'm not under His service." She answered setting her cup down, and folded her hands neatly in her lap.
"Forgive me, Mame. But you don't expect me to just take your word for it, do you?"
'Believe what you will, but let me assure you , I do not and refuse to serve one who treats life with such little respect. Let alone one who puts scars and ruins youth and vitality simply to save His own skin." She reached her fingers up gingerly to touch her own face as though she were looking in a mirror.
"Why would he do such a thing to you?" Katie asked.
"Because I caught him in the restricted section one day, reading up on things he should have no need to ever know. Dark things can turn the mind dark, you know." She answered solemnly. "I told Tom to place the book back and that I would have to tell the headmaster if he didn't return the book at once. But he wouldn't budge." Her good eye seemed to glaze over with the memory. We all listened to every word.
"I was late for my next class that day. Tom was in my next period, so I figured it was last class of the day, I could keep an eye on him and speak it over with Dumbeldore the second it was over. I was teaching the students to make the Draught of the Living Dead that day and went about helping the students giving about hints. When Tom called me over.' Her voice turned to a low tone of regret suddenly. "I should've seen it then. I knew it, felt it. There was something evil in that boy. It was as if there were no boy in there ever. As I was saying, I went over to Tom's cauldron and the next thing I knew I woke in St. Mungo's hospital, five months in recovery, while a young man named Horace Slughorn took up my post at the school. My face and career were destroyed forever after that."
She got up and moved herself to the fireplace to show us a picture of herself when she was younger. She ran her fingers over the frame and traced her jaw line with nimble fingers. Darcie changed the subject.
"These cookies are delicious. Are these chocolate chip?" She asked, offering the compliment.
"Yes, they are." Amelia answered Darcie kindly. "I have a notorious sweet tooth and used to make enough for all the children. But since the accident, I've been viewed as some type of pariah and once you lock yourself out of view of the public, they still keep your name out there with them and I'm afraid I got some bad gossip about myself. Especially thanks to that vicious Rita Skeeter of the Daily Prophet. That woman will stop at nothing to get a piece of tripe to write." I was put to ease with her candor, and put my wand in the waist band of my jeans, and took a sip of the tea. Apparently my silence did the opposite for the rest of my company.
"What's troubling you, dear?" She asked easing herself back into her rocking chair I had somehow failed to notice all this time.
"Just have some things on my mind, is all." I set my tea down on the coffee table and sat on the floor by the fire, trying to get my hands warm.
"Care to talk about it?" She offered, then suddenly her face distorted into a look of shock. She turned away from us all and asked a question over her shoulder. "What did you all say your names were?" I sat up straight. Everyone looked taken aback by the sudden question, unsure of how to answer.
"Well, I'm Megan. This is Shavai." Megan made introductions and went around the room pointing and tapping all our shoulders even though Amelia had her back to us. "And this is Darcie's sister, Delaney."
"I thought so." She answered quietly. "Hang on, just a moment." She grabbed a cane from beside the fireplace and left the room limping quickly out of sight, leaving us on our own to speculate.
"Where did she go?" Darcie asked.
"How the hell should I know?" Megan answered, listening to footsteps that sounded like she was above us. She must've had a staircase around here somewhere.
"Probably to tell the Death Eaters we're here." I answered mockingly, I put my hand to my side hovering above my wand in case I needed it after all. We stood wearily watching the ceiling with all of us standing to attention in silence watching where we heard the footsteps coming from. Then we heard her start descending and we all sat back in our positions, but ready to run at any moment. When Amelia made her entrance, she held a small wooden chest, that was closed with a brass lock. She sat it gingerly on the table. We all stared in unison, wondering what this was all about.
"This was delivered by owl from Albus Dumbeldore just before he died." Amelia announced.
"So what's the magic password to open it?" Darcie asked, setting her cookies aside and staring inches from it. Amelia went through a pocket in her dress and pulled something out in a crumpled fist.
"No magic." She answered and offered the key to anyone who would take it. We all kept our distance, wondering if it was a trap or it was Pandora's box that contained all kinds of unknown evil. Shavai stood and accepted the key.
"What is it?" I asked as Shavai began twisting the key until we heard the click. As she removed the lock from the chest, I got my answer.
"I'm unsure of its contents. Albus always leaned toward the mysterious." She answered ruefully. "However, when I received it, it was addressed to all of you." Shavai flipped the top back and began pulling out the contents. She placed the items out on the table for everyone to see. She laid out a map, a compass, and a letter.
"What's in the letter?" Darcie asked. I stood up and snatched the letter from the table, as Shavai was looking at the map and the compass. I scanned over it silently.
"Well, what does it say?" Megan inquired impatiently.
"Dear girls," I started reading.
"By the time this letter reaches you, I fear my disease has run its course and I will no longer be among you. And suffice it to say that the world in which you find yourself will be a sad reminder of itself. Enclosed, I have left you with a special compass to help regain that which is lost, and a rather special map. I'm sorry to cut this short, but at the moment time is the one thing I haven't had enough of lately so there's no time for pleasantries.
There is no way of knowing the future, the only advice I can give is this: Reunite with Harry and help him to survive this. If all goes well, then everything will be done with once and for all. And if ever you should find yourself doubting, remember sometimes, to move forward, one must go back to the beginning. Don't lose sight of your friends, do what's right in your heart and you'll never go wrong." I was confused by the vague advice, but continued nonetheless.
"The pressure on you must be tremendous. Without you, the Boy Who Lived would be having an even harder time saving our world. But with you, I do not see failure in your future.
Best wishes, Albus Dumbeldore."
We all sat, bewildered by the letter. It seemed to insinuate that Harry needed us more than we thought. But how would we ever find them? I could hardly remember what we needed to do, simply to survive. I was winging it. I looked to Amelia. She sat thoughtfully and seemed completely content. I looked at a clock above the mantle. Three-fifteen in the morning. We needed to get to the Burrow.
"What does all that mean?" Katie asked Amelia. She twiddled her thumbs together with her hands clasped on her lap.
"It says exactly what you needed to know." She answered whimsically. Why couldn't anyone around here give a simple straight answer? I folded the letter and placed it in my pocket. I motioned to see the compass. Shavai passed it to me. It looked like a normal compass, but the needle continued to move, even though my hands were still.
"We really ought to be going." I suggested. "Thanks for everything." I said to Amelia. She smiled in response, then watched us all move toward her front door.
"You are always welcome to spend the night here." She offered. I wish I could take her up on that. Her home seemed so inviting.
"Thank you. But we're wanted. It wouldn't be fair to put you in that situation. No one has a fight with you, and I couldn't bear to think what would happen if we were the cause for you to." I responded. I wish we could stay.
"What are they going to do? Cut short me young life?" She joked. We all chuckled a bit. Then we continued towards the door, muttering our thanks.
"Wait just a moment!" She ordered fiercely. We all stopped in our tracks and turned towards her. "I refuse that you leave this house in such attire! You'll all catch colds and be sick as dogs, then what use can you be to the cause?" We all looked at our short sleeves and back at her. She opened a closet door beside us and pulled out some heavy winter coats, mostly in black. I admired how stylish she was for her age. A black trench coat with coat tails in the back, she handed it to me and as soon as I put it on, I was grateful. She gave the others, sweaters and one or two other coats, and wished us the best of luck. We filed outside into a large field, as soon as we stepped foot off the porch.
"Thank you for everything, Mrs. Trelawney." Megan said.
"Thanks so much." I reiterated, sincerely. Darcie walked out with us, and was pulled into a hug by Amelia. She whispered something to Darcie, Darcie gave a weak smile and was reluctant to join us.
"The Burrow is just two miles in that direction." Amelia told us pointing. "Just follow the moon, and please, be careful. A lot is riding on you. You girls just don't understand how important you are." Her voice seemed to trail behind us as we began walking.
We walked towards the moon, away from the inviting ambience of Amelia's home. It was sheer luck we had even come there- or was it? Something in the back of my mind was screaming this had to be preordained. If I was a woman that old and a load of strangers came waltzing in, I wouldn't have been so welcoming. Much less had a package for them with tea and cookies. But there was one question that begged an answer just as her house became a small light behind us in all the tall grass surrounding us.
"What did she say to you, Darcie?" I asked finally. Something told me it was on everyone's mind as well as we kept up our pace and no one spoke another word. We came to a small puddle and had to stretch our legs as far as they could go to walk over it.
"She told me not to be afraid of death." Darcie said simply, as if she had traded her a recipe or some other menial task. But it wasn't. It made the hair on the back of my neck stand up.
"Why did she say that?" I asked.
"I asked her the same question. She didn't answer but," She paused as she crossed the puddle. "She told me to just think of my friends and why we're friends." And for once I had nothing to say, except consider the fact that the woman was a seer. She never told us if any of her predictions had ever been wrong before. It was always possible she was afterall, her daughter's mother. But she did know we were coming. Something told me even on Sybil's luckiest of days, she wouldn't have been able to know we were going to arrive like that. But I also had to consider I might lose my only little sister. I made a vow silently then and there that I would keep her safe, that even under pain of death, I would sacrifice my life if it meant in the end, she would be unharmed.
"I was thinking about Dumbeldore's letter." Megan announced.
"Who hasn't?" I replied. The letter was not only unnerving, but unsettling as well.
"Well that part about 'to move forward, sometimes you have to go back to the beginning." She paraphrased the letter. "Well I was thinking that in the beginning, everything started at Hogwarts. So I was thinking,"
"I know. We have to go back." I answered simply. "It started there, and so it seems, it must end there. The question is, when?" I brushed some more tall grass out of the way to reveal a run-down house, that looked more like a farm house with all this marsh around it with the grass being taller than we were and how dense it was. I pulled the compass out of my pocket and gave it a quick glance. The needle was moving around the house. We had arrived at the Burrow.
And once we climbed over the small wooden fence around the edge of it, we began walking towards the house itself not knowing what to expect only knowing that if we wanted to survive, we'd have to do it together. And for the first time in a long time, since we arrived here, we all felt a twinge of hope and that was worth more than anything.
A/N:: I would like to apologize for the chronic disappearance and reappearance of Shavai. Her character I've decided has been completely omitted from the story. I will fix this of course, at the first chance I get. So sorry once again and please leave a review!