Chapter Four
Disclaimer - As you probably know, most of the environment this story takes place in was created by J.K. Rowling and therefore belongs to her.
The Makings of a Lord
"Dark nights are the only kind found in the Forbidden Forest. This night was dark, but clear, the sky was as cloudless as a summer's day. The forest was alive. From the tiniest spider, to the tallest acromantula, everything was on the move. The skies were telling tales of the future, and the centaurs were there to read them. Though centaurs are private creatures, disliking the hassle that comes with the title 'being', some of these beasts are more forthcoming than others, and these are the beasts will tell the accounts the stars give, these were the beasts that Harmony met." Harmony was a simple character that Tupenny had made up, actually, it was a not-so-simple name that Tupenny was using, for everyone could tell that the tales of Harmony were Tupenny's own adventures, with, as Tupenny always put it, a few adaptations. "The centaur's name was Geldern, he was an impressive male, a pale palomino in colour. Like most centaurs he was alone that night, although centaurs rarely live alone, they are usually found that way. Unlike most centaurs, however, he did not start at Harmony's presence, he knew she was there before she realised he was. Geldern spoke cryptically, but, at least, he did indeed speak to Harmony. Harmony remained silent throughout the centaur's speech as a sign of respect, as she had been taught to do. What the centaur spoke of was the future."
~~~
Tom had left Tupenny and Felicity in the Common Room; they had descended down one set of stairs while he took the other. Slipping quietly into the boys' dorm Tom smiled at the thought of the tale his sister would, undoubtedly, now be hearing. It had been a strange night. It had started out normally, well, what Tom called normally; his life at Hogwarts was never really normal. Besides, as the wise Tupenny would say, where's the fun in normality?
~~~
"The future never can be seen too clear;
Your future will change with an event that is near.
Which path you take, you, I could tell,
But that would break the careful spell,
Which, for better or worse, is placed on you.
Though many would say 'If only you knew',
There is one only who will come to take
You from this castle and you she will make
Into the one whom the many will fear and how
This will happen you know not … but she's coming now."
Tupenny spoke the words fast and rhythmically, pausing, and adding emphasis in the correct places to make the words send a shiver through to room. Felicity was holding her knees to her chest, tightly. She was looking in open-mouthed awe at Tupenny who had been quite lost in the story she was weaving. Felicity cleared her throat waking Tupenny from her semi-trance, Tupenny looked expectantly at Felicity. Felicity had to swallow a few times before she could speak.
"Geldern said that to Harmony? Those exact words?"
"Those exact words, but he didn't exactly say them to Harmony…" Tupenny broke off, trying to figure a path out of the complicated web she was weaving for herself. "I mean, well … they must have been, because she was alone, right?" Felicity looked deep in thought. She didn't give Felicity the reassuring answer she needed. Felicity thought, in the innermost part of her mind, she knew that Tupenny was Harmony, and she knew that Tom would have been with Tupenny. She thought, if those words hadn't been spoken to Harmony, and Harmony was alone, they must have been directed to someone else. Felicity realised.
"They were for Tom weren't they?"
"No! No, no, there's no Tom in this story Felicity. They weren't directed to Harmony but to…" Tupenny was thinking quickly, she had come up with a puzzle she couldn't herself solve, besides, with one glance at Felicity's face, she saw, Felicity was ready to agreed to any cover up Tupenny put in place, but she wouldn't mean it, and she would worry.
~~~
The place hadn't entered her thoughts in over ten years, and now, in her late twenties, Meredith was back at Hogwarts, traipsing through the corridors of her memories.
The silver and green hangings decorated the room giving the great hall a gloomy feel. It wasn't that the hall didn't look as grand as normal, in fact the banners gave it a celebratory look, it was the atmosphere created by ¾ of the pupils that gave the hall its gloomy feel.
Meredith was not gloomy; she couldn't be, not today. Winning the house cup had never bothered Meredith; sure, when she earned her house points she felt a sense of pride, but that was because she'd earned the points, not because the house had. Today, she was too angry, too bitter to be gloomy. Meredith was a loner. There was little point in making 'friends' in school. Once out of Hogwarts she would begin to make her own way in the world. She could and would make it to the top because of her efficiency and independence.
She yawned, took a scroll of parchment out and a quill and wrote a quick, neat note to remind herself never to come back to Hogwarts. She would get shot of this place as soon as possible. In fact, what was the point of her being here?
Dumbledore began his goodbye speech; the great hall fell silent, apart from one noise. Meredith's bench scraped backwards, the screeching sound pieced the atmosphere in the great hall. Everyone turned to stare as Meredith stalked out of the room to her Ravenclaw dormitory.
~~~
A/n ~ Not all that much longer, but the longest of the three chapters so far.
Sooooo sorry about the loooong wait. The explanation? I hate school and my computer hates me, put the two together and what have you got? No time for writing! Plus, losing my hard drive didn't help, but I managed to recover this fic and others and they are now safely stored on backup floppy discs. yay!
