Moons, Crucifixes and Black Dogs
Written by VG Jekyll
Dark Predicaments
Beta-read by iFluffRaver
It was nearly midnight and Elisabeth Bathory thought that this was the best time to think the day over. She had been given a room in one of the upper towers and was now standing in front of a window. She stared at the dark scenery outside, which only gave her a dark silhouette of the Forbidden Forest to see against the twilight sky.
She had a sudden desire to go there.
She unlatched the window to open it as far as it could go. She then hopped into the opening and jumped out of the window. It was a free-fall from quite some height. A fall that would surely be fatal to a normal human, but Elisabeth wasn't normal and also not human anymore.
During her fall down she briefly pondered over the thought that the Gryffindor and Hufflepuff class had been more interested in historical facts, while the Slytherin and Ravenclaw class had immediately wanted to know what kind of powers she possessed.
Elisabeth smirked at the remembrance, though the smirk turned into a frown when the wind made a lock of her hair whip painfully into her eye. A flick of her left hand over the eye made the pain disappear immediately.
She was halfway down now and took a quick glance inside a window. It seemed that Snape and Flitwick were still in the Staff Lounge. They didn't notice her fall past the window, as her speed was still too fast. She sighed. It was such a pity that there weren't any handsome teachers at Hogwarts. She would have enjoyed such a distraction.
She had asked Dumbledore what the new DADA teacher looked like, hoping he at least was a looker, but she couldn't remember much of his answer. Nor did she remember the man's name.
She frowned and tapped with a finger against her chin. That was actually rather strange. Normally she wouldn't forget such things. She never forgot something! Her nearly photographic memory was her trademark, so how was it possible that she had forgotten something she had heard just that day?
This oddity bothered her and she made a mental note to ask it again.
The ground looked a lot closer now and she waited till the last second to stop and swoop upwards just like a bat would. She set one foot down on the ground and then started walking towards the Forbidden Forest.
Only once did she glance back at the castle to check if anyone was following her, and when it didn't seem so, she disappeared amongst the trees.
The forest was dark and dense. At some points the trees grew a bit further away from each other and gave the starlight permission to light up the path. Though, what Elisabeth was following could hardly be called a path.
She followed a trampled trail, that could only have been made by Threstals or other hoofed animals, and still had to jump or climb over various unknown objects on the ground. After a while of wandering through the forest, she crouched down and glanced carefully around. Something was coming her way and since she could feel the earth beneath her vibrating; it had to be big.
She leaped into a tree and waited for the creature to arrive.
It didn't take long and some moments later, a centaur appeared from the shadows and glanced around. It seemed to be searching for something. Elisabeth jumped down in front of the centaur and took it by surprise. It stepped back with a startled look in its eyes.
"Lovely night, isn't it?" She commented lightly, as if she was taking a stroll through a muggle park.
The centaur frowned and looked disdainfully down at her. "Vampire," he said from low in his throat. He was immediately on guard.
"Yes! Vampire! And the vampire's name is Elisabeth." She smiled amused at his attitude. "What's yours?"
The centaur gave her a confused gaze. "What are you?" He finally managed to ask.
"Mentally ill, I would say." She smirked, good-naturedly. "Name?"
"Firenze "
"Hello Firenze! I like your name." Elisabeth raised her head up and gazed at the stars high above them. "Mars is bright tonight."
Firenze gave her another odd glance and then looked up. "Yes, Mars is bright tonight."
Elisabeth then let herself fall on her back on the path and put her hands under her head. "It's a shame that Phaëton isn't there anymore," she randomly commented.
Firenze stared, interested down at her. "Phaëton?"
"Yes, the Tenth planet. It's said that more then 5000 years ago there were ten planets instead of nine. Phaëton was that 10th planet, and could be found between Mars and Jupiter." Elisabeth pointed to the mentioned planets, knowing that Firenze's eyes were able to spot them, just like hers.
"Now there's only an Asteroid Belt left, since the beings that lived there blew it up."
Firenze glanced thoughtfully down at her and then back to the stars. "How do you know all of this?"
Elisabeth shrugged from her place on the ground. "I've heard about it from different creatures and did a bit of research with the human Jonathan von Buttlar. There's so much evidence for its existence." Elisabeth sighed. "If Phaëton was still there, then maybe predictions would be more accurate."
They were both silent for a while.
"Mars is bright tonight."
"Yes, Mars is bright tonight."
It was quite a shock to Firenze about how comfortable he could be while talking to the vampire. It seemed as if she knew exactly what to say and she had such an amiable aura, it was almost impossible to dislike her. But Firenze didn't make himself forget. This girl was dangerous; the stars above them said so. That's what he had to keep reminding himself about: Danger.
He wished he could tell her or maybe Hagrid about the darkness that the stars and planets predicted, but it was not in the nature of centaurs to meddle. Centaurs didn't take sides in the events unfolding around them, which they had foreseen. Centaurs preferred to simply observe.
Yes, centaurs liked to keep at the sidelines, but Firenze did not! A few years ago, Firenze made the bold decision to ally himself with humans against an evil that he'd seen stalking through the forest. The evil that had killed many unicorns and had attacked the young Harry Potter.
But was this something that could be interfered with? The stars said that that this vampire was going to cause darkness and destruction. That this girl would destroy the world and its inhabitants. And no one would be able to stop her. She would be worse than Lord Voldemort.
Well, he could give it a try! "The stars foresee a dark future."
Elisabeth stood up and dusted herself off. "They do? That's sad."
Firenze gave her a serious look. "I am very serious. Don't take my words to lightly."
She smiled. "I know. There probably comes a war against Voldemort."
Firenze shook his head. "No, this happens after the death of Voldemort."
"The death of Voldemort? When?"
"Still far away, but listen!"
"I am listening," replied Elisabeth, but instead of looking at him, she stared into the forest.
"After Voldemort dies, a darker force will rise. And that one-"
"Firenze!"
Firenze turned, startled, around to face Bane and Ronan, two other centaurs. They looked disapprovingly at him. "What are you doing, Firenze?"
Firenze was at a loss for words and glanced at the vampire, which stared, thoughtfully at Bane and Ronan.
"Well?" Indicated Ronan.
"I was telling her-"
"It is our duty, as centaurs, to remain neutral observers." admonished Bane.
"But-"
"We do not interfere with the predictions of the stars." Ronan told him.
"But if she knows, then maybe-"
"You realise that if you had told her, you might have changed the future in a terrible way."
"It can't get any worse! Only better! And I tried-"
"And failed."
"You've put us, centaurs, in disgrace too many times. We will inform the counsel about what you've tried to do and they will decide your punishment."
"Now come, Firenze."
Firenze stared ashamed to the ground and was about to follow the other centaurs when he heard Elisabeth silently bid him farewell. She seemed to be taken aback by what just had occurred between the centaurs.
He glanced back at her. "I hope for you that you're right."
"About what?"
"That the predictions aren't accurate because of that Tenth planet."
Elisabeth smiled sadly. "I hope that too, even when I don't actually know what I have to do with it. I'll pray you won't be punished too badly."
"Farewell " Firenze turned around and followed Bane and Ronan.
"No, till we meet again." Answered Elisabeth and went back to the castle when she could no longer see the centaur.
Elisabeth's feet had brought her to the DADA classroom. Memories of her past and thoughts about the future whirled through her head and gave her a headache. Two things particularly were bothering her greatly.
One: What did Firenze mean?
And two: Why couldn't she remember anything, which was said about the new DADA teacher? It was like someone had set up a great wall around everything that had to do with him. And the fact that she couldn't grasp that pissed her off.
So now she took her anger out on a defenceless wall, even though she knew it to be a rather pointless exercise.
"Damn." Punch. "You." Kick. "Idiotic." Punch. "Irritating." Punch. "Annoying." Kick.
"What, may I ask, are you doing?" a drawling voice asked from the doorway. Elisabeth shook herself out of it and turned to face the owner of the voice.
"Professor Snape! How lovely of you to visit me," she said cheerfully, immediately hiding her true feelings.
Snape raised a brow at her. "What has that wall done to deserve such an 'inhuman' treatment?"
The DADA teacher rubbed the back of her head, flustered. "Oh. I just bumped my head against it. Nothing more."
"A nice cover," was Professor Snape's thought on that excuse. "But you will have to do better than that to convince me. I know what you are." He slowly stalked towards her like a cat advances onto a mouse. "You're hiding behind that cheerful attitude. You're exchanging pleasantries, while inside you want to scream and shout."
He circled around her. "You smile, when you want to frown."
Snape stared, scrutinising her, and Elisabeth had the sudden urge to wrap her arms protectively around herself. This man was angry at her about something and she didn't know why.
"You don't have to use that around me, because I know that deep inside you, somewhere hidden behind those fences of cheerfully, idiotic, fake light-heartedness and kindness, you are different. Hate, anger, pain and loneliness are fighting there to come to the surface and reveal themselves." He grinned darkly and then leaned over to her.
He studied her face gleefully. The happy mask had disappeared and it now only showed weariness and distrust. She leaned away from him. "I don't know what you're talking about," was her curt answer to his sudden verbal attack.
"Of course you don't." He reached over her and grabbed a book from the shelf behind her. He took a step back and Elisabeth slipped away from him.
"You probably hang out to much with the centaurs or Trelawney. Really, such predictions are really bullocks. Not a piece of truth in them."
Snape gave her a nasty grin. "I don't know what you're talking about," he threw back her own words. "But maybe I will have to talk with Trelawney. It seems that there are interesting things written in the stars."
He gave her a smug grin and walked away, but before he could leave the classroom, he was stopped by her voice, which had a desperate hint in it.
"How?"
"I was there when they tortured your partner. Right before we brought him to You-Know-Who. He told us some quite personal things about you..." He left the room before she was able to attack him and heard her scream out in anguish a name.
"Lucifer!"