Challenge #28 First Lines Take the first line from any random chapter of any Harry Potter book, copy it down, and then just start typing.
Title: March Second
Rating: PG
Using the first line of Chapter Thirty-Two of "Order of the Phoenix"
Main character: Minerva McGonagall
"March Second"
"I'm not going…I don't need the hospital wing…I don't want…" Her voice sounded so young and desperate to her ears. Everything was murky…seen through a haze of pain and blood.
A sharp rather cold voice spoke briskly. "You're bleeding too much, my lady. You have to go to hospital. Stop being so unreasonable."
"No…no…not again…please. It has to be different this time. It has to be."
The same voice cut into her pleading once more. "It will be different if you continue to act this way! You'll be dead along with the babe. It's too late…too late…"
Minerva's eyes snapped open and she gasped. Her whole body was shaking with the vivid nature of the dream…the memory. Too late. Yes, it was always too late.
Stiffly she brought a hand up to her cheek and wiped away the tears. You'd think that half a century would be enough time to dull the pain…to still the nightmares, but apparently it wasn't.
With a ragged breath, she forced herself to sit up and get out of bed. Crossing to the window she drew open the drapes and leaned her aching head against the glass. The day outside was gray with roiling dark clouds that promised rain scudding past overhead. March second. It always rained. Fitting, yet still strange that there was never any sunshine on this day, at least not within her memory.
She'd better get dressed and go. Get it over with as soon as possible. There was probably no real reason to make this trip year after year yet somehow it always made her feel better to actually be there. To touch the granite with her hands…to sit on the cold ground…to remember. Somehow it made it easier to forget the rest of the year.
As she dressed, it occurred to her that she was always alone on these little trips of remembrance. Not once in fifty years had she seen Ian there. A blessing in its own way. He probably doesn't even mark the day. It was just one more failure to him, who's had successes since, but for her…it was the end…and the beginning. In a strange perverted way, she should look back on this day as a release. The day that allowed her to break the bonds of her servitude. That gave her her freedom…but the price was far too high. She'd have willingly remained a slave if the outcome could have been different.
It was early as she descended the stairs and crossed the vestibule, but the low murmur of voices could be heard through the doorway into the Great Hall. Breakfast was underway. Her stomach growled slightly at the tempting aromas that wafted her way, but a wave of nausea drove all the allure away in an instant. She couldn't even think of eating…not now…later perhaps.
As she placed a hand on the door, a low voice called her back. "Skipping out on breakfast, Minerva?"
With a twinge of frustration, she turned around and nodded to Severus Snape as he stood behind her with his head cocked to the side in slight curiosity. "I have an early morning engagement, Severus. I'll eat later." Her cold tone offered no more information and warned against asking for any.
Not that that stopped him. "Hmm. How unlike you to go out without your morning meal. It must be important indeed. An assignation, perhaps?"
Her lips twitched. She hadn't thought that anything could lighten her mood this morning, but that had. How absurd. With a sigh, she shook her head. "A covenant," she said simply.
Snape opened his mouth to question her further, but a heavy hand fell on his arm and he stopped and turned to see Albus Dumbledore standing quietly beside him his solemn eyes focused on Minerva.
"March second," he said softly. "Please, extend my respects."
Her eyes glittered and she nodded without speaking, then as quickly as she could, she turned and opened the heavy door and made her escape into the wet world outside.
Snape frowned and turned to question the Headmaster, but he was abruptly ushered into the Great Hall and swept determinedly along. "Come along Severus. Breakfast awaits. The house elves promised me blueberry pancakes this morning with real maple syrup, and some of their best cinnamon buns, I'm extremely hungry aren't you?"
"Of course," murmured Snape. His hunger would obviously be assuaged but he rather thought his curiosity would linger.