Draco leaned over Pansy, wondering what was wrong. "Pansy..Pansy!
What the Hell.."
The girl slowly opened her eyes, as she was returning to the normal
world. She saw a kid over her. Misreading the intent, she reached out
and grabbed the kid by his throat.
"Agghh!" Draco gasped for breath, trying to pry Pansy's hand off
his neck. "Pansy..i-it's..me.."
She quickly let go, as her surroundings were familiar now. "Oh!
Right. Sorry..I think." She chuckled.
Draco rubbed his neck, breathing once more. "So, what happened? You
looked like you had a big fight? Did you meet you-Know-Who, did he
have his way with you? Or was it something else-"
She shook her head. "Oh, I saw him, alright. He was with someone."
"Who?"
"Some lady in leather. I saw her up close..and I thought *I* looked
bad! She's..um, evil. I really believe she could be worse than Vold--
uh, You-Know-Who. I heard him call her..Alti."
"Alti?" He looked confused, glancing at Crabbe and Goyle, then back
at Pansy. "Sorry, never heard of her. What did she want?"
"I don't know! I didn't have time to ask her between the beatings.
HE wasn't too pleased either, they thought I was spying." She
shrugged, "Well, I WAS..but that's beside he point. But from that
experience with her, I could see that..they joined together. I think
she can see the future, I could feel her looking through me. She said
she KNEW I'd become a Death Eater, as if it already happened. Alti
must be some kind of seer, like a mean fortune teller, some kind of
shaman. She also threatened to make mew relive my past pain or future
agony of death, if I ever came back."
Draco snickered. "Well..I hate to tell you..wait, no I don't." He
sneered at her, "I told you so." He said to his friends, "Women..they
never listen, huh?"
Pansy made a fist. **Damn him..** She was trying hard to resist the
urge to knock his block off, but thought better of it. "Fine. Ok, you
guys can go now. I need to sleep."
"Sure. Guys, come on." They followed him out.
Pansy went into her bed, when she noticed her bruises. **No! Oh,
great. This is just great!** She fumed, trying to think of an
explanation she'd have to give to Madame Pomfrey. Or worse, Professor
Snape. **Oh yeah. 'I'm fine, Professor. I just went to the Other Side
and got my ass kicked by Voldemort and his new witch doctor
girlfriend.'** She laughed to herself. **Yeah, I'm sure he'd believe
THAT.**
*********************************************************
Alti appeared on the third floor hallway. "Ahh..this is perfect.
Yes, I can FEEL the power in this place. So much magic and sorcery,
just *waiting* to be tapped into. This will do just fine."
Suddenly, a young man came through the wall, apparently another
spirit. He was wearing jeans and a red shirt. "Ooohh! Oh no, someone
in trouble! I'm Peeves, and I think you're being naughty!" He taunted
as he tossed a vase at her, "Oh my, you look nice! You seeing
anyone..NOT me, ugly hag! You not supposed to be here! This is Third
Corridor, you're new here! Maybe I should tell the Bloody Baron, or
Dumbledore! Then you'll be in DEEP shit!"
Alti snarled. "I do NOT have time for games." She grabbed him by
his shirt. "Listen, spook."
He stared open-mouthed, caught by surprise. "What? B-but-but..you!
How can you touch me? We're spirits, both of us."
"Well, you're not like me. I am the great shamaness Alti, and your
soul is *mine* now. You belong to ME! Whatever chance you had of
going to your afterlife, you've lost it now."
"You can't do that! I..I'm...but this is *Hogwarts*!!"
"I *know* it is, you pathetic excuse for a man! Now you live--or I
should say, you died--to serve ME. I will have this school, it's
power shall be mine. And then *I* shall be the Destroyer of Nations."
She grabbed his face with one hand, and made magic gestures with her
other hand. "You're mine. Your eternal fate is in my grasp, I now
curse your soul. Serve me well, and you shall be free. Well..about as
free as you were earlier."
"What, what do you want?"
"Go. Be my agent, spy on activities taking place within this
school." She let go of him.
He stepped away, trying not to look at her. "Anything else..Queen
Alti?"
"That should do for now. Go."
He flew away, descending through the floor below. The shamaness
definitely had him spooked..only the Bloody Baron could invoke great
fear in Peeves, but next to this new spirit, she made the Baron look
like a humble priest.
Alti laughed wickedly, pleased with herself. She walked through the
wall.
******************************************************
Harry Potter was in his dorm room with Ron Weasley. They just
finished putting the Wizard Chess game away, when Harry flinched.
"Ahhh..." He felt his head. He felt his lightning-bolt scar burning
again, a wave of nausea came over him. "Oh no..not again.."
Ron looked over at him, concerned. "Harry, what is it?"
"My scar. It..it burns." He crawled into bed, pulling the blankets
over him. "No, it can't be."
Ron asked, "Could it be..do you think You-Know-Who is coming back?
You just beat him last year, when you saved Ginny."
"I know! But he isn't dead yet, so..I'm not surer WHAT is going on.
I feel something bad. It's close. But I'm not sure if it's Voldemort."
He caught his friend's shocked expression. "Um, I mean..You-Know-Who."
"Who else could it be?" He got into bed and turned the lantern off.
"I don't know. But it's bad.." He turned over, closing his
eyes. "I'll talk to Dumbledore..maybe. I'm not certain if he'd take
it seriously. Unless I have another nightmare tonight." He shrugged,
"After all, this *is* Hogwarts. I'm safe here." But he was wrong.
*************************************************************
---Ancient Greece---
A dark-haired woman dressed in black warrior armor walked on the
dirt path. She said to her friend, "Well, Gabrielle. Seems we got
trouble." She pointed at the group of bandits up ahead, they were
holding a group of villagers.
"Nothing new, Xena." She had short blond hair, dressed in an Amazon
warrior attire. She had a pair of sais at her belt. "Let's see what
they want."
Xena nodded. She caught up to the muggers. She smiled..not a good
sign. "Hi, boys." She drew her sword. "You figure this is a good day
to die?"
They laughed. "Ha ha! Funny wench, ain't ya."
Xena shrugged, "It depends."
The leader said, "Lovely day, isn't it?"
Xena said, "That's up to you. Let these people go."
"No."
She glared at him. She spoke to him in a serious tone, "Turn away,
leave now..and spare yourself the humiliation."
"Ooh! We're SO scared!"
"Good. You *should* be.."
"We gotta deal for ya, lady. We'll have your horse, your sword..and
anything else you got."
She nodded. "I agree, sounds good."
He smirked, a bit surprised. "Really?"
"Sure. Gabrielle..take their weapons."
They roared with laughter, then got serious. The leader yelled, "Get
them!" They ran towards the two women.
Xena kicked two men in the legs, flipped one guy over her shoulder.
Gabrielle took out her sais. When she saw a man about to throw a
knife at her, she threw her sai.
It went through his shirt sleeve, pinning him to the wagon.
Gabrielle took back the weapon, striking them at enemies, while
throwing a few successful kicks.
Xena saw three men reach for their bow and arrow, aiming at the
citizens. "No!" She took her chakram, a round ring shaped like a yin-
yang, holding it up. She threw it out.
It soared through the air. It hit a tree, then went to a wagon
piece, rebounding to a house, then came back and cut through the
bows. It then bounced off a few trees, cut across a couple arms and
legs of the bandits, the two halves of the chakram had split in two
and were dealing double damage. Then it came back together and went
back to Xena's hand.
The leader was staring in amusement. "Wait..wait, I know of you,
wench! You're XENA! Destroyer of Nations, Xena the Conqueror, the
Warrior Princess! The God Destroyer!" His men backed away, suddenly
in fear. They had obviously heard of the Warrior Princess. They ran
off in terror. "RUN!!!
"Cowards!" The leader was displeased. "No matter. I don't need them
to kill you. Wench."
"I don't like that word." She engaged in swordplay with the leader,
their swords clanging.
"So..you're Xena, huh? You don't look so tough. I'm gonna make ya
bleed, woman. Your blood..all over this field.." He swung at her leg.
She parried, easily deflecting his attack, then countered with her
own. "You like the side of blood, keep talking."
"Maybe after I kill you, I'll take your daughter. Eve..or is it
Livia? Oh..yeah, I heard of her. The Bitch of Rome."
"You here to talk or fight? Hmm, you're all talk, because you
haven't got in ONE hit on me." They fought for at least ten minutes.
He fought well, but not good enough for Xena. He would feint, but
Xena would see through it. She countered nearly every attack..the
same couldn't be said for *his* side of the fight. Enraged, he
blindly swung his blade at her. "ARRGGHHH!!!"
She ducked the swing, plunged her sword into his gut.
"Urk! Ughhh..ooh.." He dropped his sword, shocked that he failed to
kill a *woman*.
She twisted the blade and quickly pulled it out, then sliced at his
torso twice.
He sank to his knees. "No..no, it can't be! Ares promised me your
head.."
She smiles at him, a smile of victory. "I guess he lied."
"Ughh..oohh...no!"
"Now, you be sure and tell Hades I said hello." She turned around,
freed the villagers from the ropes. "You people are free to go."
They thanked her, then walked off.
Xena turned to her friend, "You think we're close to Athens?"
Gabrielle nodded. "Yes. Eve said she would be in the Town Square. I
wonder what this is all about."
"You're not alone. All she said to me was that Michael sent her
there, on some mission of peace."
"Well, that makes sense. She is, after all, A Messenger of Eli. I
heard she's been doing well."
"It shouldn't be too far. There." She pointed at the horizon. "That
battle didn't last too long, but I'm not surprised. It was over
before it began."
As they walked into the city, a bearded man in black leather
appeared a great distance behind them. He had a big sword on his
side, with his name on the gilt. 'Ares, God of War'. He smirked as he
watched them go, he seemed to have an air of confidence about him. He
said to himself, "Wrong again, Xena. It's never over. But keep
fighting, I like that. That's it, give in to your dark side..and you
WILL come back to me." He vanished in a flash of blue sparks.
****************************************************
---Present Day---
---Hogwarts---
Harry woke with a start. He saw that the sun just came up. He
rubbed his head..the pain was nearly gone. He saw that Ron was all
dressed.
"Harry..you finally awake? I tried to get you up a few times. You
don't want to be late for Potions class."
"Oh..right."
"How's your head? Does that scar still burn?"
"Um..no. It's starting to fade now, it's not so bad. But..whoa.
Talk about a weird dream!"
"What was it? You-Know-Who?"
"Nope. This was something new." He quickly changed to his robes and
other attire as he talked. "It was very strange. It looked like it
was a long time ago. another time and place. A big fight..these guys
and two women. One of the girls beat them, she had this round..
killing thing..it's hard to explain. But her name was Xena, her
friend was Gabrielle. And this scary-looking guy made a few remarks
about Xena's dark side. His sword..it had his name, I think. Um..
Ares. I read somewhere that Ares was one of the Greek gods on Mount
Olympus. This dream..I don't understand it. It felt VERY real, just
like my dreams about You-Know Who. But it had nothing to do with
that, but if it did, I have no idea why. It was all very confusing."
"Wow. That's neat, it's..like I said, *wow*."
"Exactly." He grabbed his wand and spell books. "Come on, let's go
get Hermione. I'll tell you both about it on the way to class."
"Ok. I bet she'd like it. I mean, the part about two women taking
on a group of bad guys..and winning!" They ran out the door in a
hurry, headed for the Dungeon.
What the Hell.."
The girl slowly opened her eyes, as she was returning to the normal
world. She saw a kid over her. Misreading the intent, she reached out
and grabbed the kid by his throat.
"Agghh!" Draco gasped for breath, trying to pry Pansy's hand off
his neck. "Pansy..i-it's..me.."
She quickly let go, as her surroundings were familiar now. "Oh!
Right. Sorry..I think." She chuckled.
Draco rubbed his neck, breathing once more. "So, what happened? You
looked like you had a big fight? Did you meet you-Know-Who, did he
have his way with you? Or was it something else-"
She shook her head. "Oh, I saw him, alright. He was with someone."
"Who?"
"Some lady in leather. I saw her up close..and I thought *I* looked
bad! She's..um, evil. I really believe she could be worse than Vold--
uh, You-Know-Who. I heard him call her..Alti."
"Alti?" He looked confused, glancing at Crabbe and Goyle, then back
at Pansy. "Sorry, never heard of her. What did she want?"
"I don't know! I didn't have time to ask her between the beatings.
HE wasn't too pleased either, they thought I was spying." She
shrugged, "Well, I WAS..but that's beside he point. But from that
experience with her, I could see that..they joined together. I think
she can see the future, I could feel her looking through me. She said
she KNEW I'd become a Death Eater, as if it already happened. Alti
must be some kind of seer, like a mean fortune teller, some kind of
shaman. She also threatened to make mew relive my past pain or future
agony of death, if I ever came back."
Draco snickered. "Well..I hate to tell you..wait, no I don't." He
sneered at her, "I told you so." He said to his friends, "Women..they
never listen, huh?"
Pansy made a fist. **Damn him..** She was trying hard to resist the
urge to knock his block off, but thought better of it. "Fine. Ok, you
guys can go now. I need to sleep."
"Sure. Guys, come on." They followed him out.
Pansy went into her bed, when she noticed her bruises. **No! Oh,
great. This is just great!** She fumed, trying to think of an
explanation she'd have to give to Madame Pomfrey. Or worse, Professor
Snape. **Oh yeah. 'I'm fine, Professor. I just went to the Other Side
and got my ass kicked by Voldemort and his new witch doctor
girlfriend.'** She laughed to herself. **Yeah, I'm sure he'd believe
THAT.**
*********************************************************
Alti appeared on the third floor hallway. "Ahh..this is perfect.
Yes, I can FEEL the power in this place. So much magic and sorcery,
just *waiting* to be tapped into. This will do just fine."
Suddenly, a young man came through the wall, apparently another
spirit. He was wearing jeans and a red shirt. "Ooohh! Oh no, someone
in trouble! I'm Peeves, and I think you're being naughty!" He taunted
as he tossed a vase at her, "Oh my, you look nice! You seeing
anyone..NOT me, ugly hag! You not supposed to be here! This is Third
Corridor, you're new here! Maybe I should tell the Bloody Baron, or
Dumbledore! Then you'll be in DEEP shit!"
Alti snarled. "I do NOT have time for games." She grabbed him by
his shirt. "Listen, spook."
He stared open-mouthed, caught by surprise. "What? B-but-but..you!
How can you touch me? We're spirits, both of us."
"Well, you're not like me. I am the great shamaness Alti, and your
soul is *mine* now. You belong to ME! Whatever chance you had of
going to your afterlife, you've lost it now."
"You can't do that! I..I'm...but this is *Hogwarts*!!"
"I *know* it is, you pathetic excuse for a man! Now you live--or I
should say, you died--to serve ME. I will have this school, it's
power shall be mine. And then *I* shall be the Destroyer of Nations."
She grabbed his face with one hand, and made magic gestures with her
other hand. "You're mine. Your eternal fate is in my grasp, I now
curse your soul. Serve me well, and you shall be free. Well..about as
free as you were earlier."
"What, what do you want?"
"Go. Be my agent, spy on activities taking place within this
school." She let go of him.
He stepped away, trying not to look at her. "Anything else..Queen
Alti?"
"That should do for now. Go."
He flew away, descending through the floor below. The shamaness
definitely had him spooked..only the Bloody Baron could invoke great
fear in Peeves, but next to this new spirit, she made the Baron look
like a humble priest.
Alti laughed wickedly, pleased with herself. She walked through the
wall.
******************************************************
Harry Potter was in his dorm room with Ron Weasley. They just
finished putting the Wizard Chess game away, when Harry flinched.
"Ahhh..." He felt his head. He felt his lightning-bolt scar burning
again, a wave of nausea came over him. "Oh no..not again.."
Ron looked over at him, concerned. "Harry, what is it?"
"My scar. It..it burns." He crawled into bed, pulling the blankets
over him. "No, it can't be."
Ron asked, "Could it be..do you think You-Know-Who is coming back?
You just beat him last year, when you saved Ginny."
"I know! But he isn't dead yet, so..I'm not surer WHAT is going on.
I feel something bad. It's close. But I'm not sure if it's Voldemort."
He caught his friend's shocked expression. "Um, I mean..You-Know-Who."
"Who else could it be?" He got into bed and turned the lantern off.
"I don't know. But it's bad.." He turned over, closing his
eyes. "I'll talk to Dumbledore..maybe. I'm not certain if he'd take
it seriously. Unless I have another nightmare tonight." He shrugged,
"After all, this *is* Hogwarts. I'm safe here." But he was wrong.
*************************************************************
---Ancient Greece---
A dark-haired woman dressed in black warrior armor walked on the
dirt path. She said to her friend, "Well, Gabrielle. Seems we got
trouble." She pointed at the group of bandits up ahead, they were
holding a group of villagers.
"Nothing new, Xena." She had short blond hair, dressed in an Amazon
warrior attire. She had a pair of sais at her belt. "Let's see what
they want."
Xena nodded. She caught up to the muggers. She smiled..not a good
sign. "Hi, boys." She drew her sword. "You figure this is a good day
to die?"
They laughed. "Ha ha! Funny wench, ain't ya."
Xena shrugged, "It depends."
The leader said, "Lovely day, isn't it?"
Xena said, "That's up to you. Let these people go."
"No."
She glared at him. She spoke to him in a serious tone, "Turn away,
leave now..and spare yourself the humiliation."
"Ooh! We're SO scared!"
"Good. You *should* be.."
"We gotta deal for ya, lady. We'll have your horse, your sword..and
anything else you got."
She nodded. "I agree, sounds good."
He smirked, a bit surprised. "Really?"
"Sure. Gabrielle..take their weapons."
They roared with laughter, then got serious. The leader yelled, "Get
them!" They ran towards the two women.
Xena kicked two men in the legs, flipped one guy over her shoulder.
Gabrielle took out her sais. When she saw a man about to throw a
knife at her, she threw her sai.
It went through his shirt sleeve, pinning him to the wagon.
Gabrielle took back the weapon, striking them at enemies, while
throwing a few successful kicks.
Xena saw three men reach for their bow and arrow, aiming at the
citizens. "No!" She took her chakram, a round ring shaped like a yin-
yang, holding it up. She threw it out.
It soared through the air. It hit a tree, then went to a wagon
piece, rebounding to a house, then came back and cut through the
bows. It then bounced off a few trees, cut across a couple arms and
legs of the bandits, the two halves of the chakram had split in two
and were dealing double damage. Then it came back together and went
back to Xena's hand.
The leader was staring in amusement. "Wait..wait, I know of you,
wench! You're XENA! Destroyer of Nations, Xena the Conqueror, the
Warrior Princess! The God Destroyer!" His men backed away, suddenly
in fear. They had obviously heard of the Warrior Princess. They ran
off in terror. "RUN!!!
"Cowards!" The leader was displeased. "No matter. I don't need them
to kill you. Wench."
"I don't like that word." She engaged in swordplay with the leader,
their swords clanging.
"So..you're Xena, huh? You don't look so tough. I'm gonna make ya
bleed, woman. Your blood..all over this field.." He swung at her leg.
She parried, easily deflecting his attack, then countered with her
own. "You like the side of blood, keep talking."
"Maybe after I kill you, I'll take your daughter. Eve..or is it
Livia? Oh..yeah, I heard of her. The Bitch of Rome."
"You here to talk or fight? Hmm, you're all talk, because you
haven't got in ONE hit on me." They fought for at least ten minutes.
He fought well, but not good enough for Xena. He would feint, but
Xena would see through it. She countered nearly every attack..the
same couldn't be said for *his* side of the fight. Enraged, he
blindly swung his blade at her. "ARRGGHHH!!!"
She ducked the swing, plunged her sword into his gut.
"Urk! Ughhh..ooh.." He dropped his sword, shocked that he failed to
kill a *woman*.
She twisted the blade and quickly pulled it out, then sliced at his
torso twice.
He sank to his knees. "No..no, it can't be! Ares promised me your
head.."
She smiles at him, a smile of victory. "I guess he lied."
"Ughh..oohh...no!"
"Now, you be sure and tell Hades I said hello." She turned around,
freed the villagers from the ropes. "You people are free to go."
They thanked her, then walked off.
Xena turned to her friend, "You think we're close to Athens?"
Gabrielle nodded. "Yes. Eve said she would be in the Town Square. I
wonder what this is all about."
"You're not alone. All she said to me was that Michael sent her
there, on some mission of peace."
"Well, that makes sense. She is, after all, A Messenger of Eli. I
heard she's been doing well."
"It shouldn't be too far. There." She pointed at the horizon. "That
battle didn't last too long, but I'm not surprised. It was over
before it began."
As they walked into the city, a bearded man in black leather
appeared a great distance behind them. He had a big sword on his
side, with his name on the gilt. 'Ares, God of War'. He smirked as he
watched them go, he seemed to have an air of confidence about him. He
said to himself, "Wrong again, Xena. It's never over. But keep
fighting, I like that. That's it, give in to your dark side..and you
WILL come back to me." He vanished in a flash of blue sparks.
****************************************************
---Present Day---
---Hogwarts---
Harry woke with a start. He saw that the sun just came up. He
rubbed his head..the pain was nearly gone. He saw that Ron was all
dressed.
"Harry..you finally awake? I tried to get you up a few times. You
don't want to be late for Potions class."
"Oh..right."
"How's your head? Does that scar still burn?"
"Um..no. It's starting to fade now, it's not so bad. But..whoa.
Talk about a weird dream!"
"What was it? You-Know-Who?"
"Nope. This was something new." He quickly changed to his robes and
other attire as he talked. "It was very strange. It looked like it
was a long time ago. another time and place. A big fight..these guys
and two women. One of the girls beat them, she had this round..
killing thing..it's hard to explain. But her name was Xena, her
friend was Gabrielle. And this scary-looking guy made a few remarks
about Xena's dark side. His sword..it had his name, I think. Um..
Ares. I read somewhere that Ares was one of the Greek gods on Mount
Olympus. This dream..I don't understand it. It felt VERY real, just
like my dreams about You-Know Who. But it had nothing to do with
that, but if it did, I have no idea why. It was all very confusing."
"Wow. That's neat, it's..like I said, *wow*."
"Exactly." He grabbed his wand and spell books. "Come on, let's go
get Hermione. I'll tell you both about it on the way to class."
"Ok. I bet she'd like it. I mean, the part about two women taking
on a group of bad guys..and winning!" They ran out the door in a
hurry, headed for the Dungeon.
