I'll start on a happy note: I HAVE UPDATED MY PROFILE WITH NEW POTENTIAL STORIES AND UPDATED SUMMARIES! :D I have not removed any stories, only added new ones, so do not fear the profile page! Actually, I encourage you to check it frequently. It is a short page, but has LOTS of info and potential stories!
On a less happy note...
Guys... I hate to give "the talk," but you know how I am about reviews. I only got 6. Can we please get back to 10 per chapter? I REALLY appreciate it.
As your punishment, I have not uploaded any more pictures. No, not really, I'm not holding any from you. I didn't draw any more yet anyways. I've had this chapter written for a while, but I've been really busy with it, tweaking here and there. It is so important to the entire series, so it had to be perfect. Please read carefully, and even more importantly, review!
Now... let's talk about the importance of reviewing.
THE GOLDEN RULE: When you review, I take everything you say into account.
1. Reviews improve my writing. It is helpful to know what I did well, and what I didn't do well.
2. Reviews give me a general idea on what people like to read. I can get some of this from reading reviews on other stories, but only very basic concepts. I have come to understand that people like romance, death, babies, and violence. Yes, a very wide range of topics, which is why I need specifics from reviews. Oh! And plot twists! As for what KIND of plot twist... well?
3. If you review with a suggestion or idea for the story, I might use it. Don't get overly excited, just be encouraged. If it doesn't fit in, it doesn't fit in, but I love inspiration and try to use it as much as possible.
4. Reviews boost morale! Many reviews + short amount of time= happy author= MORE FREQUENT UPDATES!
So... with that in mind... read and REVIEW!
The two of us must have looked very odd, shuffling down that narrow alley in our large cloaks and hidden faces. I was walking as quickly as I could. With my large stomach that now seemed to extend two feet in front of me, I had trouble keeping a steady pace and finding balance. My cloak had added layers and a hood, so it was heavy and awkward, and I kept tripping over it. Luckily, Voldemort was there to steady me each time I stumbled. We were an interesting pair; I was short and round, and he had his tall, slight build. He walked with even strides and kept peering over his shoulder. Knockturn Alley was a dangerous place for strangers, but even more dangerous for us, with all the rebels around. I wondered how many people slumped against walls were members of the Order, just waiting for the chance to jump out at a careless Death Eater.
Finally, we reached the end of the alley without incident. For someone who had been in lots of shady places, I was awfully nervous about being here. Sure, the little shop was dark and rickety, but I had seen worse. Of course, I wasn't afraid for myself. Every fear I felt was for my baby.
Death had always been a natural thing for me. From the moment I got out of Hogwarts, I knew I would be a Death Eater. I never felt the need to be overprotective of myself; I had nothing to live for, but now, I jumped at the slightest wrong feeling, every rustling sound in the shadows. And it was nice. Nice to know that I finally had something to care about.
Voldemort glanced at me nervously. I shrugged and knocked the door, knowing that he was more likely to be scared than I was. Prophecies did not have a record of working out well for him.
We took our first look at Madam Kali. I had seen some ugly faces in my life, but hers utterly shocked me. It wasn't that she was particularly ugly, just... well...
She was old. I could see that. I could also see that she had been very pretty when she was younger, gorgeous even. There was still a ghost of her beauty on her face. She wasn't particularly wrinkled or had a sagging chin. The majority of her face was smooth, with lines mainly on her forehead and between her eyes, like she had spent most of her life squinting. Her face was heavily freckled though, many age spots on her unnaturally pale skin. She had large eyes as it was, but her thin-framed glasses had a heavy prescription that made them about twice their size. Her eyes were very shocking, a deep blue, almost violet, with hints of green. Well, they used to be, for she only had one eye now, the other side of her face had a gold plate over where her eye should have been.
Weird, I thought, just like her owl's.
She bowed with a weirdly smug smirk on her face and led us inside, not speaking a word until the rotting door was firmly shut and the five rusty locks were turned.
"So," she said in a surprisingly smooth and young-sounding voice, "when is the little one coming along?"
I gasped in shock, and Voldemort and I exchanged panicked glances. She laughed.
"What? You think I can't tell? I may only have one eye, but it is the eye of a hawk. I've spent my entire life observing the present to predict the future. I know a baby bump when I spot one, no matter whether you think I can't see it under all those layers. Besides, my Lady, if you don't mind me saying, you've never dressed most modestly."
I couldn't help but blush as Voldemort helped me out of my cloak. It was warm in here, and I had no need for it now.
"Ah... seven and a half months, if I'm correct?"
"Wow," I breathed. "To the day."
She laughed again, a loud, confident sound. "I'm not that accurate. My eye is only so good, you know. It was an estimate, dearie."
"Still, its incredible." She gave me that quirky little smirk again.
"Well, we didn't just have you make the journey to talk about children, did we? I'm terribly sorry that I couldn't have you Floo here. As you can see, the fireplace is out of order at the moment."
I decided to guess that the heap of crumbling bricks in the corner was formerly her fireplace.
"Now, the propechy. Never have I come across one so confusing. There is only so much I can tell you about it. It is very vague, and you must know that all prophecies are vague, so this one is especially so." She stopped, looking behind me with her smirk again. I turned.
Voldemort was still standing, arms crossed and a not-very-well-hidden sour look.
"Ha!" she cackled "I know that look, young man!" I giggled at his reaction to being called "young man," but Madam Kali seemed not to have noticed. "You doubt my powers!"
"Forgive me for being a stiff, but I've always thought Divination is a laugh."
"Still thinking that after the last propechy?"
He scowled. "You don't expect me to believe all that crystal ball nonsense, do you?"
She screamed with delight. "Of course not! I don't either! It's all fake, all of it! Tea leaves and glass spheres, tarot cards and smoke from magical fires, they are all muggle myths that our kind have been led to believe in. True divination does not involve those petty things. It is based on patterns of nature and the subconscious. The future is most commonly seen in weather patterns, alignment of planets, and dreams. Commonly, but not as accurate. Prophecies however, the least explained and least commonly found, and as vague as they are, happen to be almost always correctly. The sixth sense has surprising power, but it comes from within, not in tea cups."
"Almost always correct? When are prophecies not?" I asked.
She gave me an intense stare. "When they intersect with other prophecies," she said. "But enough speak of the art. Now, I will tell your story to you."
She pulled a roll of parchment from her silvery robes and read:
"In a time where shadows will meet rays, and sunset will match sunrise, it will come to them.
Partners in war, and partners in life, ebony man and woman, king and queen of darkness,
The one of the night will come to them. Brought in pain and fear, brought to prevent more.
It holds great power, but it arrives with power locked inside, held back by a greater desire. Held by loneliness.
The power may be released, only by what the one of the night wants most.
If two more of its kind do not join it before its 712nd midnight in their company, the power will fade away, never to be coaxed out, driven back by the darkness it came from.
Each one similar will add to the strength, each key opening a nesting box of potential, 'till it is nearly indestructible.
Then, he and she may destroy the lighting strike, with assistance from the most loyal and powerful of the night.
And shadows may swallow the phoenix's light."
There was a pause.
"What does it mean?" I hissed anxiously.
She smirked, not to my surprise. "That is what makes it so odd. I do not know myself. Never have I come across one so uninterpretable. I cannot even tell you what this 'one of the night' is, or when it will come. It could be tonight. It could be the second before you die.
"But I will say everything I know.
"Firstly, you must realize what this truly is. It intersects the other prophecy, and because it has come later, it overpowers it. This is how you can defeat The Boy Who Lived. Now, The Boy Who Will Die.
"This 'one of the night' will come during a war or battle. Obviously, it will come in the night, in the darkness. And it will come to you, King and Queen of the Dark side. It will reduce losses on your side, but may come with losses. This is where it becomes unclear.
"It may literally be lonely. In this case, it is most likely some sort of animal, that joined by some sort of pack, will be essential in winning. But I have been looking at this more closely, and now I think that it is most likely a weapon you will find that becomes more powerful when surrounded by more magical objects. I cannot explain why it must be accompanied by others before two years. It most likely has very rare properties that fade with time if not encouraged or reawakened.
"There is strength in numbers. The more you have of this object or creature, the stronger it will be.
"Understand. If you manage to do this, even collect only two, you will defeat The Boy Who Lived, and eventually the entire Muggle-loving community. The more of this you have, however, the less losses you will suffer."
"How?" asked Voldemort. "If we don't know what to look for, how will we find it?"
"It is best to follow your instincts. The subconscious knows more than you would think."
I felt uneasy about our lack of information, but I was glad to have any at all. We thanked Madam Kali, who refused payment, and returned back home.
My instincts told me, though, that something important involving the prophecy would happen soon. I was still thinking about the subconscious as I eased myself into bed that night. As my head hit the pillow, it told me that something else important would be happening even sooner.
But before I began to sleep, and let meaningful dreams take over, I would not know what.
Read Author's Note above, and REVIEW!