A/N: Wow, you actually want to read the second part. I'm impressed.
Oh, and thank you SOOOO much to my beta-reader,
Aieshya. It is thanks to her that you
are reading this. You should go read
her story, The Fire You Touch, if you haven't. Awesome Snape-fic. Thank
you, Abby!
Oh, and there's a bit in here from my favorite book…it has
to do with the instructor's name…can you spot it?
The Ghosts In My Head
Chapter One: An Ominous
Landscape of Never-Ending Calamity
Blood.
There is blood
on my hands. How odd.
Why is there blood on my hands? All I did was touch my stomach-- oh. Oh dear. I look down.
Blood on
my stomach. And-- what's this? The handle of- of a dagger? Uh-oh.
I struggle to pull the dagger out, but it refuses
to budge. With a mighty tug it comes
loose, and I let it fall to the floor.
It clatters on the white marble of the foyer. The floor is cold as I collapse, too weak to stand anymore.
I put my hand back on my stomach, trying to heal
myself. I close my eyes and will the
wound to close. I have done it so many
times before-- why should this time be any different?
But it is different. This time the wound refuses to heal
under my touch. The absence of the
usual yellow light that comes from my hand assures me of this, and I realize
that I must be too weak to heal.
I vaguely hear the voice of my oldest child as he stands
over me. I open my eyes to see his
blurry face; his blue eyes and wand are the only things that are clear. He touches my face, and I'm startled by its
warmth. I am so cold.
"Don't worry Mum," he says. "I'll get you help." He
presses his warm lips to my forehead.
He takes his hand off my cheek, and I shiver. His face is no longer in my range of sight,
so I close my eyes again.
I have
never heard my son sound so unsure of himself.
***
It was a
glorious day outside-- and why shouldn't it be? After all, not only had Ariadne just gotten her heart broken, she
had just learned that her exam to get into the Polviety School for Healers and
Magical Medicine was only a week away, and she had yet to begin studying. She had spent the past three years as an
apprentice, trying to win her instructor's favor. It didn't help that Ariadne went weak at the sight of blood. It made sense that the day would want to
mock her.
But what choice did she have? What else could she do with her life? Healing was the only gift she possessed…her
only talent. Well, she could duel
pretty well, but being an Auror was definitely out the question, especially
with her brother doing-- being-- what he was…no, she couldn't be an
Auror; she was trying to gain favor with her family, not lose it.
Healing was a gift that ran on her
father's side of the family. She had
been taught at a young age how to properly control and use her powers, and she
was quite the healer. Polviety had been
rather impressed with her application, and the recommendation from her
instructor, which, to Ariadne's surprise, had been full of praise.
She needed to get into this school. It was the only way.
After all, she couldn't live off her inheritance forever…most of it had
gone to her older brother, anyway. He
could live off the inheritance if he needed to, which was doubtful. He was a brilliant man with a high aptitude for
potions that gave him many job options--alchemistry, potion tester,
inventor--and an even higher aptitude
for the Dark Arts, which had pleased her parents so much that they left nearly
everything they had to him, forgetting their other child, whose own attempts at
Dark magic had not been nearly as successful.
But Ariadne had never really minded
that her parents couldn't stand her.
Her father, a dabbler in the Dark Arts, and a high Ministry official in his
time, rarely had time for either of his children or wife, so it was often just
the two children and their mother. Her
mother, a good, middle class, Pureblood wife, stayed at home and ordered the
house elf around, whilst training her children to be carbon copies of their
parents before them. Both parents were
from old, Pureblood, Slytherin families.
Her father's family had had money beyond their dreams at one point; a
man a couple of generations back had lost nearly all of it gambling.
Neither child had quite turned out the
way their mother had hoped. Ariadne's
brother had experimented with Dark magic on his own, and when he was old enough
he and their father would go into a locked room and practice. Afterwards Ariadne would be called upon to
heal her brother's wounds, for she was not only a better healer than him, he
was too physically drained of energy to heal.
Ariadne had only once been invited to
join them. She had been fifteen at the
time, and the best dueler in her year.
Her father had suggested that she duel her brother. Not thinking that Dark magic would be
involved, she readily agreed, emotionally thrown by the chance to impress her
father.
The duel had started out fine
enough. The niceties had been observed;
they had bowed, and faced each other, wands level. Ariadne had gotten in the first curse, which was easily deflected
back at her, and she was able to block it and cast another one. The duel continued in this fashion until her
brother, growing tired of the contest, carelessly flicked his wand and sent a
curse at her that Ariadne knew was of the Dark Arts. She hadn't the experience to block it, so she had jumped out of
the way, ducking behind her father's desk chair.
She had then sent one of the only Dark
curse she knew towards her brother, who made no move to block it. It had hit him, but not done anything
harmful. Her brother simply stood there as the curse dissipated around him. Her
brother and father had laughed as Ariadne disarmed her opponent with a quick, "Expelliarmus!"
She stood, throwing his wand back.
Still laughing, her father had
actually spoken, though he wasn't complimenting her on her ability to beat
someone older and more experienced than her in a duel. No, he had spoken of her inability to
perform the Dark Arts.
"I suppose your sister just doesn't have to stomach for the
Dark Arts, my boy. I'm lucky that I
have such a capable son then, eh?"
Her brother had nodded, and turned to
practice with his father again. Ariadne
had quietly slipped out of the study and into the backyard, where she had sat
with her cat and cried, something she rarely ever did.
Her brother had gone on to join the
rising Dark Lord once he had finished his primary school training, along with
taking a job at the Ministry, testing potions.
Once
done with her primary school training, Ariadne went and apprenticed with one of
the top healers in the area, Jack Burden, and now, at twenty, was counting on
getting into Polviety. Her parents
wouldn't be there to be proud of her as her father had died when she was
eighteen; her mother, a few months later of grief.
Yet Ariadne couldn't bring herself to
skip her parents' funerals…perhaps it was because she and her brother had
reconciled their differences by that point, and she knew that he would want her
there. Or it might have been that her
boyfriend at the time had convinced her to go.
Those had been relatively good times, when she had been with Remus
Lupin.
Not anymore, though.
***
Pressure. Someone is touching me.
My eyes fly open.
My youngest child sits next to me,
knees tucked under her, her hand in my open palm. "Mummy?" she says quietly, softly.
I want so badly to answer her; to tell
her I love her, that she's my little baby girl, the only one of my brood of five
that looks just like me. I want so
badly to get those words out!
Oh, but I can't! All I can manage is a spluttering, gasping
noise that I know scares my little girl even more than the hole in my
stomach. She pulls her hand away, and I
see that it too is stained with my blood.
I am left cold again.
She begins to cry loudly, and tears
stream down her face.
Oh, don't cry my angel! Don't cry, darling. Not for me!
The only thing worse than not being
able to comfort your child is knowing that you are the source of her pain.
***
No, there would be no more happy days
with Remus Lupin for Ariadne.
Good old Remus, with his sandy hair
and deep coffee eyes, eyes that were older than the moon.
Clever Lupin, wise as an owl, always
the logical one, the mediator.
Tricky Moony, always up for a good
adventure, with his unconvincing lies and wonderful schemes.
Ariadne had known Remus Lupin since she was eleven,
and had heard of him even before then: her brother was not particularly fond of
the scrawny, pale, sickly looking boy.
Mysterious Remus, always gone, never the same excuse.
Tired Lupin, circles under his eyes,
falling asleep in class.
Dangerous Moony, afraid of the full
moon, changing beneath the light.
At Hogwarts she knew him as one of the
Gryffindors that lived to terrorize her brother and his friends. His little
group: James Potter, Sirius Black, Remus, and Peter Pettigrew. Where one was, the other three couldn't be
far.
He was smart
too- sometimes Ariadne wondered why he hadn't been put in Ravenclaw.
He was always disappearing for days at
a time, sometimes two, sometimes three.
Ariadne's brother had been curious as to just where Remus went every
time her went away, and Ariadne didn't learn why until years later.
She hadn't really gotten to know Remus
very well until they were out of Hogwarts.
He was an Auror, but she hung around them all the time, just to anger
her mother.
Ariadne was friends with Lily Evans,
who in turn was friends with Remus, so she knew him as a mere acquaintance, a
friend-of-a-friend.
And then her brother had joined the
Death Eaters, and everything had changed.
Ariadne no longer could sleep at the
home she shared with her brother, the home he was so kind to share with her, as
she had no money.
Her home was always overrun with her
brother's "friends," friends that wanted to sleep with her, especially after
their meetings with the Dark Lord. They
were always more…aroused then.
So Ariadne began to sleep at Dinah Banks'
house.
That was her first mistake.
***
Two sets of hands are on my
shoulders, and they pull me up so that I am leaning against the stairs. I slump back down, so they hold me up.
They sit, and I see flashes of black
hair. I know it must be the twins.
The troublemakers of the family, one
male, one female. One is never far
apart from the other; they go together, like cold weather and butterbeer.
"Is she dead?"
His twin puts her head on my
stomach. It presses on my wound. I am filled with even more pain.
But her head
is warm, and I don't want her to take it away.
"No," my oldest daughter says, "she's
breathing."
Her head leaves.
My
son sighs with relief.
I am cold.
I can't think.
All I know is the cold.
I turn my head slightly, wanting to
see their faces.
The boy has his back against the stairs, as I am, a
pained expression on his face as he bites down on his lower lip.
His twin sister is on my other side, holding my baby
girl. My baby is still sobbing and
gasping. The older girl has her lips
pressed to the younger's forehead.
My twin children, always so happy, always laughing.
They are not laughing now.
A/N: Well, that was bright and cheery, eh? If you hadn't noticed, the woman that was stabbed
is Ariadne. Can you guess who her
brother is? It's a bit obvious…
Disclaimer: I own Ariadne and Dinah Banks, who we will
hear more from next chapter. The
chapter title comes from an Incubus song, Pardon Me. Incubus happens to be my favorite band, so
most song titles will be from their songs.
Thanks
to all the reviewers: Smoo, LOP-
the rest of it is a little less personal.
All questions of heritage will be answered soon. Dolores- Perhaps…she's a Slyth,
definitely. Vikki- Oh, there'll
be Snape… Erin- that last part was a prologue dear, it wasn't supposed
to have a plot. If you're reading this,
I'm rather surprised. But thanks for the flame. Incitatus- very little
honey-coated anything here. Even the
romance is un-sappy. Katrina Snape- thanks for the line spacing warning-
my computer is really screwed up *kicks it in frustration* whoops, there goes
the floppy drive…Tic Tac, Zedd- For some reason, my sister hates
him, where I drool over the mere mention of his name. Oh, remind me to tell you
about the dream I had of Alan Rickman dressed in Sev costume wearing only a
pair of green and black boxers…*drool* The Marauders, Himitsu Natsume-
sorry I didn't answer to your ICQ message.
I had forgotten to click my "away" button…try again later, please? Skeeter/Sue.
J
Next Chapter: We find out just who Dinah Banks is,
something bad happens to Ariadne, Remus Lupin makes his debut, and we meet the
last of the five, even if he is the second youngest. I wanted him to be last.
