A/N: Hey everyone, I've been working on this one for a few days, but I had
a debate tournament, which I did okay in (my partner is really bad) and I
won tenth place speaker in a pool of around 75 or so people. Yay! But
anyway, that's why this one took me so long to post up. Oh, also, before I
forget, thanks to everyone who reviewed!!!!
Part Four: One Together, One Apart
***
Deeper into this abyss
Weighted down and sinking fast
Life did not offer me
More than false destiny
***
/ / Severus \ \
I waved a hand, and the lights in my bedroom dimmed, until I was lying in darkness so thick that it didn't matter whether my eyes were open or closed. Something about this kind of darkness was comforting in a way that nothing else was. I could let go, and I did, allowing myself to fall into sleep.
I opened my eyes onto a beautiful garden. I was sitting next to Harry on a carved stone bench that seemed like it was hewn out of the path in front of us, without taking a different block of black marble. Above us, unfamiliar stars were twinkling down, and the moon was high in the sky, giving the gardens a beautiful, ethereal glow. Harry seemed to merge with this glow, and become it. He was of the moon. I looked down at myself and I glowed golden, healthy, with firm skin and hands that weren't potion-stained.
Harry and I were content to simply look at each other, and at the rest of the world. Words were not necessary. In this time and place, a tiny motion could convey more than a thousand words. The sheer beauty overwhelmed me.
Suddenly, the man and woman of the previous. what was it. dream? Visit? Day? Night? Whatever it was, they sat before us once again. I was struck by the beauty of the lady, and the pale glow of the man. I wondered what we were doing here, and it didn't seem to matter so much anyway. Then, the lady spoke, "Hello, my children."
"Hello, madam," I replied.
"We have brought the two of you here for many, many reasons, but, for the most part, because you both have the potential for many things within you. You both have the potential to become vampyres, the greatest among them. You have the potential for endlessness, the potential for leadership and eternity. You both have great power, courage, honor, and cunning."
The man spoke now. "We are the leaders of the vampyre kind. Our race has the ability to leave this plane, for the next existence, when we feel we have spent enough time in this universe. We can move faster than any being in existence. We are shape-shifters, element-controllers, lore-masters, and sky-riders. We can talk to all of the organisms with enough brain to form coherent thoughts. We can talk to the living and the dead, and all of those in between, because we are not truly one or the other, although we live as if we are truly living. Legilimency is the descendant of one of our ancient magics. We are known by some as Angels, and we can sprout our wings and pull them back at will. We can kill, but we are not killers, and we cannot be killed."
The lady spoke once more. "Will you accept our offer? Become one of us? The two of you have the potential to be the greatest leaders our kind has ever known."
And suddenly, I knew my answer, as if fate had already known what was in store for me. I nodded solemnly, at the same time that Harry did.
"Do you have any questions for us? Now that you have accepted, we can answer almost anything you will ask," the man said.
I spoke up first. "What is the name of this world we are in?"
"We call this place Verdana, and it is a place that only a little bit further away from your planet than the closest solar system to your Earth."
Harry asked the next question. "Are there any descendants of your-no, our kind on the Earth, now?"
"Why, yes, of course there are. Our people originated there. The ones you know as Vampires are the descendants of those who chose to stay on Earth, when we left, just after the first true Man evolved. Our time on that planet was over then, and so we had to leave."
I asked again. "So how did Harry and I come to be your successors? What is special about us? And how did we get here?"
The lady answered, this time. "The two of you are the last descendants of the last true vampyres on the planet Earth. Salazar Slytherin and Godric Gryffindor, to name them. You two are the first in a thousand thousand years that have shown up as trueblood vampyres. For some reason, you are truly one of us, and you possess the ability to live forever, and the right mind frame. We have been watching the Earth, and the two of you have continually escaped death, by a very narrow margin. You have the qualities to be leaders. So we chose you. As to how you got here, if someone else was to look in your bed right now, you would not be there. You have actually traveled here. That is the evidence of our travel speed. It is such that you do not even need to perform a charm to create air around you to survive the vacuum of space. You simply think yourself a place, or a speed, and you are there."
"I only have a few more questions," Harry said "will we be forced to move to this place? Would we be able to stay on Earth?"
The man nodded. "You have a while yet until your people need you. But until then, you can live as you would normally, and when you do need to lead, you can lead from your home, or you can come here, or you can even bring our people to your home planet, although that is probably and inadvisable course of action. Your people are no longer ready for ours."
Harry spoke up once more, "so Severus and I can remain on Earth until Voldemort is destroyed?"
The man and the woman nodded at the same time, and then turned to leave. My eyes closed, and I was helpless to stop it.
**Harry**
I opened my eyes into the green curtains of my bed. This time, I remembered my dream. I performed a charm to let me see the time. Ugh. Too early. 5:30 in the morning and I wasn't at all tired. I guess another one of the symptoms of vampyrism is a lessened need for sleep. Not that that was a bad thing.
I got out of bed, and walked into the bathroom attached to the room. The lights slowly rose as I walked in, allowing my eyes to adjust. I locked the door with a flick of my wand and shed my clothes as I walked into the shower. I let the hot water run over me, counteracting the cool of the dungeons.
I stepped out of the shower and wrapped a towel around my waist. I brushed my teeth and then looked into the mirror. I looked paler again, my hair contrasting with my body.
I got dressed, all in black, and walked out of the Slytherin dorms, headed towards Severus' office. I knew he would be awake, just as I was.
/ / Severus \ \
A knock dragged me out of my reverie. I put together the last two hooks of my robes and opened the door. It was Harry. "You remember the dream, too, I take it?"
He nodded. "Yeah. What do you think it means, that we're turning into vampyres?"
"I really don't know. I think that it means that we will end up immensely powerful. And that we should not tell Dumbledore unless we absolutely have to."
Just then, Albus' head popped into my fireplace. "Severus, the wards on Harry's house are down, and his relatives are dead. I need you to get him and floo to my office immediately."
"I have him right here," I replied, "we'll come up to your office now, if you would please move out of the way." I motioned to Harry that he should go first, and followed quickly behind.
Dumbledore was patting Harry's back as I walked out of the fireplace, and Harry stood there not looking sad at all, but a little bit relieved. I didn't blame him. If he had even told us the half of it, he was treated very badly there. Instead, he just looked awkward at Dumbledore's unnecessary comforting.
Dumbledore then motioned for us to take seats, and he sat behind his desk. I took the seat to Harry's right, and Dumbledore started to speak. "For some reason, the wards on Harry's house failed. There were Death Eaters posted there, waiting for the chance to kill his relatives and end his protection. And that's exactly what they did. Do you two have any ideas about why this might have happened?"
I looked at Harry just as he looked at me. He saw the question in my eyes and nodded. I could tell Dumbledore what had happened. "We have something to tell you," I said quietly, "but if you interrupt, we will stop talking to you and leave this office immediately. And after that, I need you to let Harry and I talk through this on our own today. Seeing as it's the last day before the Easter holidays, I think that we can afford to miss the school day."
***** the lyrics at the top of the page belong to Fear Factory, the song is called Descent.
Part Four: One Together, One Apart
***
Deeper into this abyss
Weighted down and sinking fast
Life did not offer me
More than false destiny
***
/ / Severus \ \
I waved a hand, and the lights in my bedroom dimmed, until I was lying in darkness so thick that it didn't matter whether my eyes were open or closed. Something about this kind of darkness was comforting in a way that nothing else was. I could let go, and I did, allowing myself to fall into sleep.
I opened my eyes onto a beautiful garden. I was sitting next to Harry on a carved stone bench that seemed like it was hewn out of the path in front of us, without taking a different block of black marble. Above us, unfamiliar stars were twinkling down, and the moon was high in the sky, giving the gardens a beautiful, ethereal glow. Harry seemed to merge with this glow, and become it. He was of the moon. I looked down at myself and I glowed golden, healthy, with firm skin and hands that weren't potion-stained.
Harry and I were content to simply look at each other, and at the rest of the world. Words were not necessary. In this time and place, a tiny motion could convey more than a thousand words. The sheer beauty overwhelmed me.
Suddenly, the man and woman of the previous. what was it. dream? Visit? Day? Night? Whatever it was, they sat before us once again. I was struck by the beauty of the lady, and the pale glow of the man. I wondered what we were doing here, and it didn't seem to matter so much anyway. Then, the lady spoke, "Hello, my children."
"Hello, madam," I replied.
"We have brought the two of you here for many, many reasons, but, for the most part, because you both have the potential for many things within you. You both have the potential to become vampyres, the greatest among them. You have the potential for endlessness, the potential for leadership and eternity. You both have great power, courage, honor, and cunning."
The man spoke now. "We are the leaders of the vampyre kind. Our race has the ability to leave this plane, for the next existence, when we feel we have spent enough time in this universe. We can move faster than any being in existence. We are shape-shifters, element-controllers, lore-masters, and sky-riders. We can talk to all of the organisms with enough brain to form coherent thoughts. We can talk to the living and the dead, and all of those in between, because we are not truly one or the other, although we live as if we are truly living. Legilimency is the descendant of one of our ancient magics. We are known by some as Angels, and we can sprout our wings and pull them back at will. We can kill, but we are not killers, and we cannot be killed."
The lady spoke once more. "Will you accept our offer? Become one of us? The two of you have the potential to be the greatest leaders our kind has ever known."
And suddenly, I knew my answer, as if fate had already known what was in store for me. I nodded solemnly, at the same time that Harry did.
"Do you have any questions for us? Now that you have accepted, we can answer almost anything you will ask," the man said.
I spoke up first. "What is the name of this world we are in?"
"We call this place Verdana, and it is a place that only a little bit further away from your planet than the closest solar system to your Earth."
Harry asked the next question. "Are there any descendants of your-no, our kind on the Earth, now?"
"Why, yes, of course there are. Our people originated there. The ones you know as Vampires are the descendants of those who chose to stay on Earth, when we left, just after the first true Man evolved. Our time on that planet was over then, and so we had to leave."
I asked again. "So how did Harry and I come to be your successors? What is special about us? And how did we get here?"
The lady answered, this time. "The two of you are the last descendants of the last true vampyres on the planet Earth. Salazar Slytherin and Godric Gryffindor, to name them. You two are the first in a thousand thousand years that have shown up as trueblood vampyres. For some reason, you are truly one of us, and you possess the ability to live forever, and the right mind frame. We have been watching the Earth, and the two of you have continually escaped death, by a very narrow margin. You have the qualities to be leaders. So we chose you. As to how you got here, if someone else was to look in your bed right now, you would not be there. You have actually traveled here. That is the evidence of our travel speed. It is such that you do not even need to perform a charm to create air around you to survive the vacuum of space. You simply think yourself a place, or a speed, and you are there."
"I only have a few more questions," Harry said "will we be forced to move to this place? Would we be able to stay on Earth?"
The man nodded. "You have a while yet until your people need you. But until then, you can live as you would normally, and when you do need to lead, you can lead from your home, or you can come here, or you can even bring our people to your home planet, although that is probably and inadvisable course of action. Your people are no longer ready for ours."
Harry spoke up once more, "so Severus and I can remain on Earth until Voldemort is destroyed?"
The man and the woman nodded at the same time, and then turned to leave. My eyes closed, and I was helpless to stop it.
**Harry**
I opened my eyes into the green curtains of my bed. This time, I remembered my dream. I performed a charm to let me see the time. Ugh. Too early. 5:30 in the morning and I wasn't at all tired. I guess another one of the symptoms of vampyrism is a lessened need for sleep. Not that that was a bad thing.
I got out of bed, and walked into the bathroom attached to the room. The lights slowly rose as I walked in, allowing my eyes to adjust. I locked the door with a flick of my wand and shed my clothes as I walked into the shower. I let the hot water run over me, counteracting the cool of the dungeons.
I stepped out of the shower and wrapped a towel around my waist. I brushed my teeth and then looked into the mirror. I looked paler again, my hair contrasting with my body.
I got dressed, all in black, and walked out of the Slytherin dorms, headed towards Severus' office. I knew he would be awake, just as I was.
/ / Severus \ \
A knock dragged me out of my reverie. I put together the last two hooks of my robes and opened the door. It was Harry. "You remember the dream, too, I take it?"
He nodded. "Yeah. What do you think it means, that we're turning into vampyres?"
"I really don't know. I think that it means that we will end up immensely powerful. And that we should not tell Dumbledore unless we absolutely have to."
Just then, Albus' head popped into my fireplace. "Severus, the wards on Harry's house are down, and his relatives are dead. I need you to get him and floo to my office immediately."
"I have him right here," I replied, "we'll come up to your office now, if you would please move out of the way." I motioned to Harry that he should go first, and followed quickly behind.
Dumbledore was patting Harry's back as I walked out of the fireplace, and Harry stood there not looking sad at all, but a little bit relieved. I didn't blame him. If he had even told us the half of it, he was treated very badly there. Instead, he just looked awkward at Dumbledore's unnecessary comforting.
Dumbledore then motioned for us to take seats, and he sat behind his desk. I took the seat to Harry's right, and Dumbledore started to speak. "For some reason, the wards on Harry's house failed. There were Death Eaters posted there, waiting for the chance to kill his relatives and end his protection. And that's exactly what they did. Do you two have any ideas about why this might have happened?"
I looked at Harry just as he looked at me. He saw the question in my eyes and nodded. I could tell Dumbledore what had happened. "We have something to tell you," I said quietly, "but if you interrupt, we will stop talking to you and leave this office immediately. And after that, I need you to let Harry and I talk through this on our own today. Seeing as it's the last day before the Easter holidays, I think that we can afford to miss the school day."
***** the lyrics at the top of the page belong to Fear Factory, the song is called Descent.