Chapter 52: Brindalette's Dilemma.
Words had not been spoken between Brindalette and her friends since Allisonelle had been returned to the school and placed in the Hospital wing. Raelyn and Allisonelle stuck close together but would turn the other way when Brindalette would arrive. Their charms had not glowed in nearly a month and when they had it had been ignored by everyone but Brindalette. It was now turning out to be a very lonely holiday for her as she sat alone in the Gryffindore common room, watching all of her fellow house mates enjoying their time with there friends.
As the feast ended on Christmas eve and darkness and silence fell over the school, Brindalette made her way back to the common room and sat quietly with a book by the warm fire. Students came and went and crawled happily into their snug beds as she sat in her corner. Late into the evening her charm began to glow faintly but for the first time in all her life she ignored it until a strange prickling sensation began behind her eyes. She closed her book placed it gently on her lap and closed her eyes, hoping that the strange sensation would go away.
With the darkness of her eyelids the sensation grew worse, painful even, until she was not sitting but standing before a large, regal looking building, a window to the far left glowed faintly behind the green curtains. The stars were high in the sky and the snow glistened in the moon light. She couldn't take her eyes off the building.
"Do you know where you are?" a voice asked her.
"No," she answered never taking her eyes off the house, "where am I mother."
"You are in a place of great evil," the woman answered as she stepped into focus beside Brindalette, "it is in that place where there shall be an heir, the next heir of Slytherin, the child of the darkest and most evil wizard of all times. The balance has been broken."
Brindalette stared up at the house again. It was a dark house and as the words sunk in the house looked evil. A cold shiver ran down her spine as she turned away from the house and looked at the woman who stood beside her.
It was not how she was used to seeing Hecate, she was but a girl the same age as Brindalette, the girl she had seen in the castle but the gown she wore was that of Hecate and her eyes burned with the fire that the great witch possessed.
"What am I to do?" Brindalette asked.
"You are to risk everything to save another," Helena answered, "you and your sisters must put your differences aside to restore balance."
"Where are we?" Brindalette asked as she looked around once more.
"This is the Malfoy manner and you are to work quickly, or soon there will be no way for you to gain entrance, even my magic will not protect you if you do not work quickly. You must kill the mother and child. Be sure that all is destroy or the balance will never be the same. Do you understand how serious this task is?"
"Yes," Brindalette said as she shivered.
"This will be the last step in your work for me," Helena said as she turned and walked away.
"What do you mean?" Brindalette said.
"I will no longer need you or your sisters after your final task is complete. As you can see I have been born again and so I will be alive again to keep the balance. I am like the phoenix," Helena said as the fire in her eyes glowed and all around her a fire erupted, "the doors will lead you here. Choose carefully." she added and disappeared with a flash of light.
The cold of the night faded from around her an all became dark and warm again. She could hear the crackling of the common room fire but the image of the manor house was burning on the inside of her eye lids. Brindalette's eyes flew open as the sound of the portrait door opening to allow someone else into the common room.
Something heavy mad a thud onto the book in her lap. She caught the rolling orb before it fell to the floor. Shaking with fear and an urgent sense of secrecy she shoved the orb behind her back but rose only to find Harry Potter staring down at her.
"My guess if the prophecy has to do with the Malfoy's," Harry said as he stared at her and the glass orb she brought out from be hind her back.
"How could you know that?" Brindalette gasped.
"Because everything is connect and something terrible has broken the balance," Harry said, "what are your orders?"
"That has nothing to do with you," Brindalette said angrily.
"Yes it does," Harry said filled with rage as he jumped at Brindalette and shook her so hard that the glass orb fell from her hands and smashed on the floor.
The low whisper of her voice filled the common room.
"The heir has conceived and the balance is broke. Time is short before the balance cannot be restored. Many will die to save man kinds. The dark lord waits for his heir."
"are you satisfied!" Brindalette yelled she shook so violently with fear that her knees gave way beneath her and she fell from Harry's hands to the floor.
The charm around her neck began to glow brighter then every before engulfing all that was around them. Harry felt the searing pain of his scar and heard the terrible screaming of his mothers last moments before his eyes focused on what was all around him. Brindalette stood cloaked in white, huge tears rolled down her cheeks. Behind her stood women. Many, many women. All dressed in the same white robes.
"What is this place," Harry asked.
"It is not a place you will soon see again," Brindalette whispered.
"What do you mean?" He asked as he watched two figures moving through the crowd of women. They came to Brindalette stared at her for a moment and turned to face Harry.
"How are you doing this Brindalette?" Allisonelle asked fearfully as she stood beside her.
"What have you done?" Raelyn asked as she turned to look at the women behind her, "oh my," she gasped as tears filled her eyes.
"What is it?" Harry asked, "what is going on."
"It's my mother," Raelyn sobbed but as she ran to a woman that stood near them, her arms outstretched, she could not reach the beautiful woman that looked just like Raelyn, "why can't I touch her." Rae screamed as she fell to her knees.
"Because we are not dead...yet," Brindalette sobbed.
"What have you done!" Allisonelle screamed as she drew her wand and pointed it at Brindalette.
"It wasn't her fault!" Harry said as he stepped between Brindalette and Allisonelle.
"It's been foretold," Brindalette hiccuped through her tears and sat down on the ground.
"What is going to happen?" Raelyn whispered as she walked to her friend.
"We have been charged with our last task," Brindalette said as she put her face in her hands and sobbed.
"What," Allisonelle asked completely filled with shock. Like the wind had been knocked out of her she too fell to her knees.
"Who will take our place?" Raelyn asked, "we've no daughters to take our places. How are we to pass on the power," she asked frantically.
"We don't need to," Brindalette said as she looked up and looked to Harry, "the phoenix is born again. Hecate has been born to a new form. She no longer needs the children of the earth to do her bidding. She has come to keep the balance and we are to take but two more lives to restore the balance once more."
"What lives?" Allisonelle asked as she dried her tears on her sleeve, "who must we do in to loose our own lives?"
"Narcissa Malfoy and her unborn child, the heir of Slytherin," Harry said as he looked at the girls and Brindalette nodded.
"There has been to much evil unleashed," Raelyn said as she too dried her tears and helped Allisonelle to stand, "we must do this and do this now."
"Let Snape handle it," Harry blurted out, "it is Snape who know that it needs to happen, he told me all that he had done to aid the dark lord in his plans. This is something he has to do. He's going to die anyways. Save yourselves. Don't listen," he said frantically.
"No," Brindalette said as she finally forced herself to her feet again, "there is something that was not in the prophecy that has been foreseen, we will die to save one," she said and looked deep into Harry's green eyes.
"You have to destroy the last horcrux and put an end to this once and for all," Allisonelle said as she came toward Harry, "we've known we needed to die for a very long time. It just came to quickly."
"It is our duty," Raelyn added, "you may warn him all you like, but he will live because the balance needs to be kept and so we are charged with mending it."
"We will be with our mothers soon," Brindalette said forcing a smile, "I can't speak for my friends but it has been what I wanted all my life and so I accept my death. I will fight, I will succeed and I will die," she said.
"As will I," Raelyn said and her charm began to glow.
"And me," Allisonelle said.
The three charms glowed as one and flew from the chains that hung around the girls neck and became one before their eyes. A perfect ring. Gold and glowing brightly. Brindalette reached out and took the ring that floated in mid air and handed it to Harry, "you'll know what to do with it when the time comes," she said and with that the brightness of the light faded and they all stood in the middle of the Gryffindore common room.
