Red Rum: Prologue
Monday 12th June 1926
"Twist and turn, bubble and burn,
The world in danger, babe in a manger,
And as the gruel becomes thick and steamy,
Bring me the man who has the power to be me!"
A beautiful lady swathed in red laughed evilly. She was bent greedily over a pool of swirling, bubbling water that was shining with silvers, blues and metallic reds.
The beautiful lady had dark hair, almost black, which was plaited in a long braid down her back. There were small red flowers woven down the braid, each possessing a power that was greater than any other in the world. Her dark eyes glinted with malevolence as she stared into the churning waters. Her perfect red lips formed a smile as she threw the liver of a gypsy into the pit of dark nothingness. She was clothed in a long red dress, with black lace around the edges. The most beautiful part of the whole ensemble was a pendant that she wore around her neck. It was gold, the shape of a sun, and set deep in the middle was a beautiful blood red stone, a ruby, shining with all the wealth in the city of Auriga.
Auriga was a beautiful city in the sky. It was charged with the most electrifying powers in the universe, and those that lived there, or visited there, immediately became charged with the power too. Auriga was not accessible to any regular human being, you had to have a special ability, or overwhelming beauty or wealth to enter. The Gypsy tribe of Cepheus had acquired the special Danira, a chalice filled with dancing blue flames, that enabled them to cross the bridge into Auriga, and it was for this reason that the beautiful lady had come about.
You see, the beautiful lady was Princess Lavinia, illegitimate daughter of Queen Christabel and a Gypsy traveller named Jacob LeSavine who had used the Danira to enter Auriga, and then slowly, over the months, he had fallen in love with Queen Christabel. Lavinia had inherited her Father's dark Gypsy looks, and her Mother's beautiful posture. Princess Lavinia was nearing thirty in age, and was still not committed in a relationship. As the population of Auriga was composed of entirely women, Lavinia awaited the day a traveller would stumble across her. Her Mother, near dieing age had promised her the throne, only if she could find a husband. Which brings us back to the present moment.
"Forked tongue of snake,
Tail of demon we leave to bake,
For it is I who hath the power!
Bring me the man who will make my hour!"
Princess Lavinia cackled in glee, as the pit of waters began to spew out long torrents of the burning potion, drenching Lavinia as she stood by the pit, nearly toppling in as tidal waves of the silver liquid lapped at the sides.
Then, as suddenly as it had started, the waters fell calm. Lavinia shivered, in spite of the heat of the water, as a figure began to rise out of the dark pit.
The figure stepped out if the pit and slowly advanced on Princess Lavinia.
She smiled happily. The potion had worked. She summed him up. Not bad, she thought, a little tall for my liking, but still okay. As the spell had predicted would happen, the man swept her up in an earth shattering kiss.
They broke apart, and Princess Lavinia took the mans hand. Neither exchanged a word, though they both knew the other's name. It was as though they had known each other all their lives. Princess Lavinia led her betrothed to Queen Christabel. When they reached the Fiume, they both leaped across it as one, Lavinia's red dress trailing behind her, as she led the man, Charles to meet her mother.
* * *
Queen Christabel was pleased with Princess Lavinia's choice in husband. Being the most powerful witch, queen and women in the whole of Auriga, she was also the most powerful Divinator in the whole of Auriga. And as ever, when a joyful thing happened, there was a prophecy to put a damper on the whole thing.
Princess Lavinia and her betrothed, were about to leave Queen Christabel's chamber when she held up a frail hand to stop them.
"Wait!" she said in her cracked voice. Old as she was, Christabel still had her beauty, splendour and domination over others. Immediately, Lavinia and Charles stopped and turned to face her.
"A year from now, in the Southern sky,
A child is born, the mother will fly.
Into God's heaven she will leave,
Her child and husband will bereave,
And when two powers of evil combine,
The child will rise, to say, 'the world is mine!'"
As she uttered the last word, she uttered her last breath. Her lifeless body fell back onto the silk pillow and as Lavinia brushed her Mother's eyes shut, she knew what the prophecy meant: she would die after giving birth to a child a year from now. Because both her and her lover were the two most powerful beings in the world, when joined together, their child would be the supreme power. Indestructible power. The greatest power in the universe.
* * *
A year later, as the prophecy predicted, Lavinia died, a few hours after giving birth to a baby boy.
As her life ebbed away, Lavinia put all her efforts into passing on her great power. The pendant was burning as it lay on her chest; she was writhing with pain, putting all her energy into the magnificent ruby set in the centre of the gold. As she passed away, the ruby glowed brightly, giving off a bright red light, that shone into Charles' eyes as he held his wife's hand.
She was an evil woman. She had never used her great powers to help anybody but herself. He watched now as every one of the little red flowers that she braided into her hair each day wilted, and died with her. Then, the powers left her body, and formed a swirling vortex as they entered the pendant. The pendant sucked the powers greedily, and as quickly as it had started, it stopped. The room was silent, apart from Charles' racking sobs. He knew that this necklace held a great vigour, and he unhooked it from her pale neck. Kissing her one last time, he left the room, slipping the pendant into his pocket.
He hurried to his room, and packed the few things that Lavinia had allowed him to have. When his carpetbag was packed with his belongings, he picked up his newborn son, whom they had named Martin and left Auriga by the golden staircase at the edge of the city. One person saw him leave. A witch going by the name of Heather Pickering. As she watched the man walk down the steps to "the real world" a wave of helplessness overcame her. It was then that she knew the baby boy in his arms would kill one of her descendants.
A/N I hope you enjoyed that. I know that it has absolutely no relevance to any of the Harry Potter characters, but all will be revealed if you review! If you review, you will motivate me to write faster! Anyway that's the point of prologues: something that happened many years ago, that gives background information. That's what this is doing. Giving background information. Ciao! And review!