Night of the Broken Glass

C5: Splinter

[A/N: Hoo boy.]

[Disclaimer: J.K. Rowling owns the original stuff.  I own my own stuff.  Don't steal and don't sue.]

"Strange and ironic…isn't it?"

Kendra sat up with a gasp, clutching at her chest and sweat on her forehead.

"I thought you had been lying."

Kendra looked about and saw Rima sitting at the foot of the bed she had, frowning at her and wearing general clothing.

"It's Saturday, if you wanted to know." Rima sighed, "Virgil brought you up here last night because you had fallen asleep while he hugged you."  Kendra just buried her head in her hands, trying to forget the nightmare that had happened again.  It had been worse though.  The screaming and laughing was there, making it far worse than ever.

"If you had told me about those nightmares in the first place, I could have maybe procured some sleeping potion.  Nightmares aren't very bad unless they keep happening.  And they're about past best left untouched.  Here."

Rima gave Kendra a glass of water and sat down beside her.  Kendra put it on the bedside table and gave a long wavering sigh.  Rima stared at her meaningfully with her silver eye.  The long silence was broken by a loud meowing sound.  Tac tumbled down from Kendra's pillow and crawled over to her, looking up at her questioningly.

"And I think Virgil would like his kitten back." Rima nodded at the cat, "By the way, I need to talk to you.  I'll let you freshen up a bit.  Just knock at the door.  I'll be waiting outside."

She stood up and left the dormitory, closing the door with a soft click behind her.  Kendra stared at the door wearily for a long while, and then stood.  She dressed and again sat at a window, staring out at the rain that had started as she slept.

"I took the time and your absolute silence as signal." Rima was suddenly standing inside the room, "I need to tell you that you didn't fall asleep.  That fast of sleep and deepness is only achieved by a charm.  However, it was not a dreamless charm, as a potion would give.  That is why you had another nightmare, as you have been having for quite some time now.

"So tell me, are the nightmares of a lost past?  You never want to remember them."

"Who wants to remember nightmares?" Kendra replied, "And I don't think my dreams are any of your business."

"And you don't even want to know who put the charm on you last night." Rima said, "Well, if you don't care and just want to be left with nightmares…goodbye."

The door opened and closed with a sound click.  Tac mewled pitifully, unhappily.

Rima seemed to almost vanish that day.  The rain was loud against the castle walls, and the only sound that could combat it was the usual noise in the Gryffindor common room.

"Hey, Kendra, Ward told us." Erika and Lisa Weasley had swamped through the crowd to find Kendra sitting at the window once again, "We'll be on the team with you."

Kendra didn't really hear what they said, trying to forget the memory of the nightmare.  Rima had been right.  It seemed the Auror's daughter knew far more than she seemed to ever let on.

"Good morning." Virgil stood beside her, "It seems you didn't make Rima very happy."

"Well, she should stop trying to play the part of dream-reader." Kendra replied bitterly, her eyes narrowing, "I'm sick of her trying that."

"Well, I advise you go and talk to her." Virgil patted her on the head, "She's a good person to be a friend with.  Besides, you aren't really mad at her, are you?"  Kendra lowered her head with a sigh, staring at the rain with a somber look.

"She's in the library."  Kendra sighed again and stood up.

The library wasn't spared the sound of pounding rain as Kendra searched for Rima.  Almost ready to give up, Kendra sat down at one of the randomly placed tables and put her head down.  Someone's hand suddenly poked her in the head.

Kendra looked up—and nearly screamed.  A hand was floating there in midair, completely unattached to anything.  She turned white as a sheet and let out a short whimper.

"I owed you that." Rima's voice said as the hand moved away and pulled at something, "For being such a brat child this morning."  The hand tugged, and Rima appeared out of nowhere.  Kendra felt her heart getting back on its normal pace, and stared at Rima for a very long time.

"An Invisibility Cloak." the one-eyed girl explained, "My father decided to give me it before I came here.  He's always been one for sarcasm."

"Rima…I'm…" Kendra kept her eyes from meeting Rima's.

"I know." Rima rolled her eye, "You're sorry about being grumpy.  It really doesn't matter to me about it.  I just wanted to help you stop having nightmares."

"What do you have nightmares about?"

Rima stared thoughtfully out at nothing and then replied, "That one night, with my mother, and my eye.  The side effects of being an Auror's daughter."  Kendra was quiet, studying the scar on her friend's face and the patch over her eye.

"I hear screams, and someone laughing at the screams.  I see red eyes, and someone talking about fate.  I see a sword, another eye, and someone always says 'Strange and ironic, isn't it'."

"First thing, I'd advise against taking Divination in your third year." Rima smirked a bit, "The teacher there would probably be predicting your death every three minutes.  Second, that type of dream only comes around if you can sense something coming.  It's a sort of puzzle-premonition.  You can acquire a special potion or charm that will give you a dreamless sleep.  I can teach you it, if you want."

"For being quiet every day in class, you certainly know a lot more than anyone I've ever met."

The training part of being on the Quidditch team had come around.  Ward—called Raven by whoever was on the team—was much more aware on the field than anywhere else.

The three Chasers (the ones who scored with the Quaffle) were the fourth years Raven, and Erika and Lisa Weasley.  The two Beaters (the guys with the clubs and Bludgers) were two fourth years.  One was Catherine Gray and the other was Jason Tyron.  The Keeper was a second year named Stephen Renard.

And then there was Kendra, the Seeker.

"All right, I know that last year was a bit of a bad year." Raven yawned, "We had a very…uncooperative Keeper and a chronically missing Seeker.  Both have been kicked off.  However, Stephen here promises to always do what he needs to, to be the Keeper."  Stephen nodded furiously, his broom clutched tightly.

"And of course, our purely secret weapon has already shown me what kind of talent she has." Raven looked towards Kendra with a sleepy grin, "Do you want to show them, Kendra?"  Kendra tossed the broom in her hands to the ground and stepped onto it.

The part of the team that hadn't seen Kendra yesterday was stunned.  Kendra flew through the air seamlessly, feeling as if the dream's memory and the laughter from the nightmare were being dragged away as the wind whipped by her.  It was wonderful to fly.

Raven released the Snitch and Kendra could see it move through the air.  It was in her hand before ten seconds had passed.

The team on the ground was ecstatic.  The Weasley girls were hugging each and shrieking with insane laughter and Catherine and Jason were dancing.  Raven had fallen asleep standing up, while Stephen was trying to wake her with a large grin.

Kendra smiled too.

Halloween morning on Friday was one of the best mornings Hogwarts had seen.  The rain had stopped from over the weekend and the castle was filled with the wonderful smell of baking pumpkin, bread, and other good food.

To make things rather interesting, Professor Arcanorum had finally decided to start teaching how to duel.  The first and foremost spell used in duels was the Disarming Charm, to get the opponent's wand away from them and win with ease.

He paired them off in his spacious classroom and ordered them to only disarm.

Kendra looked at the teacher with an unsure glance, and then stared at Rima.  Rima stared right back, seemingly ready.

"Bow!" Professor Arcanorum called, "Now, on three!  One…two…three!"  Kendra's wand was pointed straight at Rima almost before he had finished saying three.

"Expelliarmus!" Kendra half-shouted.  A burst of red light escaped the end of her wand and struck Rima in the chest.  The other Gryffindor went flying backwards, flipped over, and landed with her feet on the wall.  She jumped back to the ground and ran to her dropped wand, holding it up and just about to say something.  Her free hand came up and pushed her wand down, to keep from saying or doing anything.

"Reflex." she said in a strained voice, "Sorry, Kendra."

The rest of the class, however, was a bit chaotic.  Some first-years had shouted the wrong charm or spell, and there were a few ashen-faced people flat on their backs.  Virgil on the other hand, had disarmed Richard Heir and was holding his wand just out of reach.  Kendra and Rima laughed.

The Halloween Feast was just as good as the Welcoming Feast.  Large pumpkins (courtesy of Hagrid) were placed around the Great Hall and Seal had quite a bit of fun by scaring many students by changing into a wolf right in the middle of the hall.

The deserts had just popped up onto the golden plates when Professor Arcanorum strode swiftly into the room without many people looking at him.  He went up to the High Table and muttered something to Dumbledore.  Rima stood up and walked away as Dumbledore stood.

"Prefects, please escort your first-years back to your dormitories!" Dumbledore called, not seeing Rima slip out the door, "I will send word with the heads of your houses soon!"

The students left the Great Hall with plenty of whispering about what had happened.

"Virgil, where did Rima go to?" Kendra whispered as the Gryffindors were shunted along towards the Tower, "She needs to know."

Virgil looked around and then pulled Kendra aside into a shadowy corner behind a statue.

"She knows something." he spoke in a low whisper, "I saw her watch Arcanorum say something to Dumbledore.  She must have read his lips.  She went left from the Great Hall, down the way of the Potions dungeons."

"So are we going to follow her or what?" Kendra started out towards the Great Hall, "Come on!"

The two ran as quietly and as quickly as they could past the hall and towards the dungeons.  The torches that lit the hallways had gone out and it was nearly pitch black.

"Lumos." the two lit their wands as they came near the Potions hall.  The Potions hall, however, was lit with a brilliant blue light as they came nearer and they turned a corner.

Rima was off her feet, hanging on the wall by one hand.  A spike of what looked like electricity was stabbed through her left hand to the wall and was holding her up.  But…Rima was also standing on the ground, pointing a wand at the Rima on the wall.

"I see you finally got here." the Rima on the ground said, "Go and find the teachers."

"Kendra, Virgil, that's not me!" the Rima on the wall shouted, "It's an elemental-mirror!"

"You're the mirror." the Rima on the ground snapped, "Go and get the teachers!"

"It's a lightning elemental-mirror!" the other Rima yelled, "Don't let it touch you!"  She let out a yell of pain as her other hand was stabbed through to the wall.  The Rima on the ground advanced, keeping her wand raised.

"Well, that shut you up." the Rima sneered, "Now go and get the teachers!"

Kendra raised her wand and shouted, "Expelliarmus!"  The Rima on the ground was blown backwards, something shifted behind her, and she slammed against the wall.  A loud cracking sound echoed in the hall and the two electric spikes in Rima's hands vanished.  She fell five feet onto her knees and cringed.

The torches were suddenly relit as footsteps sounded.  Seal, Dante, and Snape were running down the hallway.

"What in the hell are you doing down here?!" Seal grabbed Kendra by the shoulders and shook her, "Why weren't you back at Gryffindor Tower?!"

"Rima, she—" Kendra pointed at Rima, who was staring at her bloody hands.

"A elemental-mirror of lightning!" Dante suddenly cried as he examined the unconscious Rima at the end of the hall, "You managed to break it?"

"I think the question is, how did you know which to attack?" Snape hissed, "Those two look exactly alike."

"A mirror reflects the exact same thing, but it's oppositely shown.  Rima's eye patch and scar were flipped." Kendra smiled a bit, "I remembered that Professor Ascarte said to always look for a flipped detail if going up against an elemental-mirror."

"I should punish you for disobeying Professor Dumbledore so badly," Seal shook Kendra by the shoulders again, "but you did manage to save your friend.  Just take twenty points to Gryffindor, get back to the Tower, and don't do it again."

The feast continued in the common room, and everyone was noisy and without care again.  Kendra, Virgil, and Rima ate in a corner by themselves (Rima with difficulty due to bandages on her electrically-burnt hands) and Virgil finally brought up a question.

"Why'd you go running off just before we had to go back to the Tower?"

"I read Arcanorum's lips." Rima replied, "He said that an elemental-mirror was in the Potions hallway, and that he was going to go and get rid of it.  Those things hurt a lot to get hit by, so that's why Dumbledore sent you back.  But the funny thing is, Arcanorum never showed up."

"Does it matter that I saw something trying to force its way into the last door in the hall?" Kendra questioned, "Because I'm sure it does."

"What do you mean?" Virgil questioned, "Someone tried to get into the room Dumbledore specifically told us to stay away from on pain of death?"

"Yes." Kendra replied, "And from what I really saw, he had red eyes."

"Let me see." Rima put up a hand thoughtfully, "I count about…four people that could, would, or would want to get into that room for any odd reason.  Virgil and Dante Ascarte are out of the question, because you came after me.  That twit, Talionis, is a good thought, but the last one…if that was him, I'm now freaked out to have been so close to Darkness."

"Wait a minute." Kendra said, "He couldn't have gotten in here without someone noticing something.  And the person I saw was a lot bigger than Talionis.

"And my scars still hurt."

Virgil and Rima stared at her for a very long time.

"The only other known time that something like that happened was with…" Rima's eye was wide; beads of sweat forming from fear.

"With your father, when Voldemort was near." Virgil murmured, "But Voldemort is gone, and the only one left is Darkness."

The three fell silent at that, suddenly filled with foreboding.  Kendra stared at her hands, the moon-scars attracting her sight.  The three were completely silent, the noise of the common room ignored.

The next morning, as Kendra stood ready on the Quidditch Field, the scars on her hands burned.

—to be continued—