The medicine did drive away the dreams, but it also left Lizzie feeling perpetually sleepy. It grew more and more difficulty to drag herself out of bed in the morning, and in the evening she had to be in bed having taken her medicine by 8:30 or she would slum over wherever she happened to be sitting or standing and fall asleep. The first time she'd done that in the Gryffindor common she had given everyone quite a shock because, as her friend Amy later told her, "You looked dead!"
Her schoolwork suffered because she no longer had any energy to pay attention or study, and worse of all she was seemingly sapped of all magic. She struggled to perform the simplest spells, and Snape seemed to take perverse joy in keeping her after class to try and mix potion ingredients week after week. Even her favorite teachers like Flitwick were frustrated at the bright girl's sudden failures, and Lizzie could physically no longer attend Astronomy, her favorite class. Only her mother excused her from work, and that brought on even more teasing than ever.
"This isn't a healthy way to live," Lizzie thought wearily one Saturday morning when she awoke feeling more drained than when she'd gone to sleep 15 hours earlier. Looking in the mirror, she noted that her usually brilliant eyes (one blue, the other green) sported dark circles around them and even her hair had lost its dark glossy look. Squinting at the mirror, she noted the appearance of several gray hairs. "I know that I'm far too young for that. What's going on?"
That certainly was a good question. She found that she could no longer depend upon her mother or grandfather for the answers. She knew as well as she knew her own name that this wasn't right, that something was going on that they weren't telling her. Of her beloved sisters, Tabby was a grown woman and a member of the Order of the Phoenix, far too busy to be bothered with the problems of a fourteen-year-old girl. And Vicky was living her own life in America, not that she would be able to help her. Although Lizzie had endless faith in her sisters' abilities, Vicky had spent recent years ignoring Hogwarts and trying to become as American as possible.
Besides, Lizzie thought, I'm a grown girl. I should be able to solve this myself. And so that was why, one night in December, Lizzie didn't take her medicine. Instead, she snuck out into the passageways and tried to find her way back to that section of Hogwarts where all this had began.
The night was colder than ever, and Lizzie felt her entire body going numb. Her mind and body were unbelievably weary, but she used her iron will to keep shuffling forward. "That Lizzie," people had said when she was younger, "Tabby's the beauty, and Vicky's the brain, but Lizzie -- she's the guts."
For hours Lizzie wandered, until suddenly she realized that the air was getting heavier. The halls seemed to get narrower, crushing her. "Yes!" she croaked. She'd made it!
But what to do now? Last time she had fainted and had to be rescued; she didn't want to have to depend on that again. She looked around desperately, trying to find some sort of clue as to what this place was, but she could barely see anything in the darkness. "Lumos," she whispered, and her wand began to glow weakly. It was the first magic Lizzie had performed in days, and the sight of her glowing wand filled her with warmth and hope.
Slowly, she began to crawl forward to examine where she was exactly. The wing was dark and looked long-overused. No light from the full moon shone through the stained-glass windows, and upon closer investigation Lizzie realized that these only looked onto brick walls.
Her breath came raggedly, and her heart pounded, but Lizzie would not give up. She wasn't sure what she was looking for, but she knew that she couldn't leave yet. Just before she felt herself crumpling to the ground, she spotted a flash of light reflected from a spot in the wall. Literally crawling on the ground, Lizzie made her way to it, digging from between the mortar of the bricks until she reached a small crystal phial. She clasped in protectively and, drawing strength from deep inside her, she rose shakily to her feet and stumbled out of the mysterious corridor. She barely made it back to Gryffindor tower before collapsing into her bed, still clutching the phial.
*****
The girl stood on the edge of her new homeland, breathing in the salty air that mixed with fresher air from inland. Since her father's death that horrible night, she had grown up. Her untrained magic had protected her from the attackers. They could not stand to touch her skin, and if they came too close, she would often throw them away.
So for the duration of the journey, everyone on the ship was afraid of her, avoiding her whenever possible. It was just as it had been back at home, when the villagers she had known since birth had suddenly discovered her to be a witch of enormous power.
But now that the journey was over, the journey which her father had paid for with all of his money and his life, she was all alone in a strange country. She had only a few clothes and almost no money or food. She shivered in the cold breeze. Pulling her gray robes around her small body, she gathered her things and proceded to make her way to the village. She was on her own now.
*****
When Lizzie awoke the next morning, she felt relieved that the old dream had returned. She felt better than she had in weeks. Eagerly, she bounded out of bed inadvertently dropping the phial. It fell to the ground with a loud clink and rolled under her bed. Right as it fell, it was almost as if a hook had grabbed onto her heart and pulled sharply. She gasped in shock and confusion, clutching her chest. Then she noticed the phial and grabbed it for further examination.
At first glance it was ordinary. Made of perfect clear glass or crystal, it was shaped like a teardrop. Inside, Lizzie squinted to get a better look, was a dark red orb, probably a garnet. Then she looked again and gasped. When she moved it, the red orb moved ever so slightly. It wasn't a solid gem; it was blood. Lizzie shuddered inwardly but continued to stare in fascination. She felt drawn to it somehow.
"Morning Lizzie," her friend Amy said sleepily as she woke up. "You okay?"
Lizzie quickly hit the phial in her hand and nodded. "I feel great." She yawned and stuck the phial in her pocket.
"Let's go get some breakfast."
This time Lizzie did not tell her mother or anyone else when her dreams returned. She realized that her mother and grandfather had been keeping things from her, and she was determined to figure out this mystery on her own. She magicked a small chain so that she could wear the phial around her neck always; she just felt better when it was near.
Winter fell onto Hogwarts quickly covering the castle and grounds with blankets of snow. Lizzie found herself spending hours by herself, sitting in the snow and contemplating all of the changes that had happened. My friends used to be so important to me, she thought, and now I've lost them. I don't know how it happened; it just did. Slowly they had begun to stop waiting for her to get out of her constantly distracted state and care passionately once more about House Points and Quidditch. Her life had taken on a new deeper meaning than just schoolwork and the House Cup. She was determined to figure the mystery that had befallen her and to prove herself worthy of joining the Order of the Phoenix in stopping You-Know-Who.
*****
After wandering the English countryside for months, the young woman, a girl no longer, learned of the Dark Lord. Most spoke of him warily as only a "dark cloud" gathering power in the north. Only a few were brave enough to speak his name, Lord Mortis. When she heard his name, it felt as if the story that her father would tell her on long nights had come to life.
"But I heard that Salazar Slytherin defeated him years ago," she protested to the first villager who had told her his name.
The old man shook his head. "The Lord is not human enough to die. All Slytherin did was postpone his rise to power. I only hope the wizard can do it again before He has gathered enough strength to resist death permanently."
And so the young woman traveled cautiously from town to town trading magic and medicine for food and temporary shelter. Sometimes she would remain in a place for weeks; sometimes she would leave after less than a day. She had yet to find a place that she could call home.
And then, on an ordinary day in December, she was walking along the road to another small village when she heard voices off the path. Curious, she left the spelled protection of the path until she reached a small grove of trees.
When she reached them and peered through the dense branches, she gasped! She had stumbled upon the Dark Lord.
