Chapter Fifteen: Will Angels Hurt...
"I see that you have all done your assignment in spite of the fact that none of you paid attention last time." the History of Magic teacher said in a strained, wheezy voice.
"Today, we will continue on the path that the Baliman warrior, Ravi, took after stealing the Shangri-La."
The students stared at the professor, already lost in their own contemplations. Binns rolled his watery eyes behind the spectacles that rested on his wispy gray nose.
"The warrior," he croaked, "fled to the West when the Nairmalyas and the Balimans went after his head."
Hermione was madly scribbling notes with her well-worn quill.
"Ravi of Andha Kull came upon a colony that was terrorized by a country we now know as Transylvania. The people that dwelled in this place were a clan of Siamese twin wizards. They were called the Fatarnae, Slavic for "two-faced". Due to the fact that they were joined at the hip, each of them were twice as powerful as an ordinary wizard. Their only weakness was their heart. They only had one heart between each pair of wizards."
Binns' dreary eyes rolled from side to side, scanning the snoozing class.
"Upon coming to the colony, Ravi was asked to aid the suppressed people for they knew he was a Baliman warrior. As you should all know by now, the Baliman were powerful warriors, even more so than the Shinobi clan of the Far East. The Baliman were also quite capable as wizards. Ravi was by far the mightiest of the Baliman for he was the offspring of a head Nairmalya and a Baliman leader."
He peered over his eyeglasses, observing the comedic contrast between Hermione's furious note taking and the other students' deep slumber.
"The leaders of the Nairmalyas were always the firstborn daughter of the previous ruler, therefore keeping the pure bloodline of the first most powerful Nairmalya. The Baliman, however, chose the most powerful warrior for their ruler. As Ravi was this and the firstborn of a head Nairmalya, the smaller colonies asked for his help in overthrowing the Siamese."
Taking another disgruntled look at the slumbering class, the professor continued.
"Ravi crushed the Fatarnae by means of using the Shangri-La. Instead of killing the Fatarnae as he should have, he split them all in two, therefore rendering them helpless, for each of them now only had half a heart. The Fatarnae cried out to their patron God, Svarog, the God of the Sun, for assistance and justice. Svarog gave the Fatarnae back their powers, making them twice as powerful as other wizards and endowed them the gift of immortality. However, he did not regenerate the other half of their hearts so as not to make them invincible. The Fatarnae were then forced to acquire blood from other beings to replenish their strength. Eventually, their corruption led them to raid Svarog's temples, slaughtering the priests for their blood, until only one temple remained. Hearing of this chaos, Ravi created a barrier for the temple in which the Fatarnae could not pass without having their blood drawn completely out of their bodies. In a gesture of gratitude toward Ravi, Svarog granted him the power of summoning light from the Sun and bestowed this power to any of his descendants that Svarog deemed worthy. He vowed to destroy all Fatarnae that came into his sight, hence the popular belief that vampires are afraid of the Sun."
The translucent professor stopped suddenly when he noticed that he had been so involved in his lecture that he had not seen his students leave fifteen minutes ago when the bell rang.
A cold bite in the air kept the students from drifting further into drowsiness. The heavy lunch had left them all in longing for a restful nap. As they were making a complicated Pacifying Potion, the Potions room smelled pungently of Chrysanthemums.
The Professor had paired Natalia with Draco in making this potion. Draco watched apathetically as the girl cut the Chrysanthemum petals into slender strips, soaking them into linseed oil. She looked up at the blond boy while cutting the petals.
"Draco, are you going to do anything other than visit Hypnos all day?"
The wandering thinker found his way back to the present with a worried look in his eyes.
"I'm sorry, it seems that my mind is just a bit distracted today."
Natalia nodded, reading every expression of anxiety on his face.
"You look like you have just seen a Boggart." Natalia said in hopes of alleviating his distress, however much she disliked him.
Draco stood, quietly saying,
"I'm just...never mind, it's nothing." he said quickly, dismissing the topic. The Slytherin went over to the table.
"Here let me cut that."
He took the knife from her and started hacking roughly at the flowers. Natalia had to bite her tongue to suppress a laugh. Quite suddenly, the knife slipped and buried its blade deep into Draco's finger. The boy remained impassive, promptly grabbing a cloth and wrapping it around his finger.
"It will get infected that way." Natalia said, hastily rising to get a Wound-Cleaning Potion from Snape's cabinets. She came back and took Draco's pale hand, cradling it in her own. Pouring the liquid onto a clean rag, she carefully applied the potion to his finger. He jerked at the sting of the potion but she held onto his hand firmly, looking up at him saying,
"Where is all the bravery that I see so often?"
Draco frowned slightly and looked back at her, saying in a low voice,
"I'm not a bloody Gryffindor."
Natalia grinned, pressing down on his finger until the wound closed up. She took the rag off his hand.
"See? All better."
He smirked at her, saying in a teasing manner,
"Well, you are actually good for something after all."
She caught his eye and smiled softly at him, glad to see that for once he had dropped his calloused demeanor.
"You have no idea." Turning back to the table, she added, "You better let me finish that. I do not know how calming Slytherin blood can be in a potion."
The refined young Malfoy sat back down and watched in admiration as the girl skillfully conjured up a perfect Pacifying Potion.
The weekend passed in a whirlwind. Natalia had lent her potions expertise to the Weasley twins in making a new kind of sugary treat that gave the eater the ability to jump great distances for an hour. They had gone through more than twenty batches before they were successful.
On Sunday night, Natalia took Amicus out for a quick flight after a tiring day of dealing with scores of leaping Gryffindors.
She breathed in the cold night air while her dragon flew above the school trying to set the stars on fire. For the first time since she was eight, she felt that she was home. Home...the word rang in her ears with a pleasant resounding tone. How she wished this could last forever.
As her eyes adjusted to the darkness, she saw a figure sitting by itself in the Quidditch stands. Curious, she went up closer only to discover that it was Draco Malfoy. Strange, she thought, I wonder where his two cronies are. Seeing that he had his face buried in his hands in what seemed to be a gesture of dismay, she approached him, concerned.
Draco felt a scent of jasmine sit down quietly next to him. He sighed softly. His solitude was to be disrupted after all. He turned to rebuke whoever had disturbed his privacy. As he was about to speak, he stopped in awe of the person next to him. At first glance, he thought that Artemis herself sat next to him. But after a moment, he realized it was Natalia.
"Natalia," he said in a weary tone, "not all my wounds can be healed."
The dark-haired girl looked at him with her piercing green eyes, the moonlight reflecting off her pale skin to create a soft aura about her. She nodded in understanding and waited patiently for him to continue. They sat there for the longest time; so long that Amicus flew back to the castle knowing that Natalia would be out for a while. The moon had almost risen to its highest point before Draco began speaking again.
"You know my family are devout followers of the Dark Lord." he said cautiously.
The wind picked up at the mention of the Dark Wizard.
"My Father has always planned for me to be a Deatheater. Last night was my first time practicing the Unforgivable Curses."
His carefully folded hands tightened, his mouth settling into a grim line.
"He had taken an elderly Muggle for me to practice on. I was first instructed to perform the Imperius Curse. I made the Muggle cast aside his cane and stagger around the room with bricks on his back." he said with a repulsed voice.
"When I released him from the curse, he was crying in pain from the swelling of his extremities. Then my Father made me execute the Cruciatus Curse."
Draco closed his eyes, his voice shaking from the vivid memories.
"The man was screaming out for me to stop, insisting that I kill him. So to fulfill his wishes, my Father instructed me to do so."
Tears covered the hardened face of the Slytherin. His voice cracked, words coming out in suppressed hoarse sobs.
"I...couldn't...I couldn't take my eyes...off of him as he - as he died."
He shut his eyes, trying to drive the images away.
"He stared at me with those tortured, accusing eyes, even in his death. And yet, there was not a trace of hatred for me in them."
His whole body shook, convulsing in the waves of agony. Natalia quietly took him in her arms, gently rocking the tormented boy until he calmed.
As he lay there, he felt a peace settle in his mind. Slowly evening out his ragged breaths, he drowned himself in the soft scent of jasmine as he slowly drifted into the lull of sleep.
"I see that you have all done your assignment in spite of the fact that none of you paid attention last time." the History of Magic teacher said in a strained, wheezy voice.
"Today, we will continue on the path that the Baliman warrior, Ravi, took after stealing the Shangri-La."
The students stared at the professor, already lost in their own contemplations. Binns rolled his watery eyes behind the spectacles that rested on his wispy gray nose.
"The warrior," he croaked, "fled to the West when the Nairmalyas and the Balimans went after his head."
Hermione was madly scribbling notes with her well-worn quill.
"Ravi of Andha Kull came upon a colony that was terrorized by a country we now know as Transylvania. The people that dwelled in this place were a clan of Siamese twin wizards. They were called the Fatarnae, Slavic for "two-faced". Due to the fact that they were joined at the hip, each of them were twice as powerful as an ordinary wizard. Their only weakness was their heart. They only had one heart between each pair of wizards."
Binns' dreary eyes rolled from side to side, scanning the snoozing class.
"Upon coming to the colony, Ravi was asked to aid the suppressed people for they knew he was a Baliman warrior. As you should all know by now, the Baliman were powerful warriors, even more so than the Shinobi clan of the Far East. The Baliman were also quite capable as wizards. Ravi was by far the mightiest of the Baliman for he was the offspring of a head Nairmalya and a Baliman leader."
He peered over his eyeglasses, observing the comedic contrast between Hermione's furious note taking and the other students' deep slumber.
"The leaders of the Nairmalyas were always the firstborn daughter of the previous ruler, therefore keeping the pure bloodline of the first most powerful Nairmalya. The Baliman, however, chose the most powerful warrior for their ruler. As Ravi was this and the firstborn of a head Nairmalya, the smaller colonies asked for his help in overthrowing the Siamese."
Taking another disgruntled look at the slumbering class, the professor continued.
"Ravi crushed the Fatarnae by means of using the Shangri-La. Instead of killing the Fatarnae as he should have, he split them all in two, therefore rendering them helpless, for each of them now only had half a heart. The Fatarnae cried out to their patron God, Svarog, the God of the Sun, for assistance and justice. Svarog gave the Fatarnae back their powers, making them twice as powerful as other wizards and endowed them the gift of immortality. However, he did not regenerate the other half of their hearts so as not to make them invincible. The Fatarnae were then forced to acquire blood from other beings to replenish their strength. Eventually, their corruption led them to raid Svarog's temples, slaughtering the priests for their blood, until only one temple remained. Hearing of this chaos, Ravi created a barrier for the temple in which the Fatarnae could not pass without having their blood drawn completely out of their bodies. In a gesture of gratitude toward Ravi, Svarog granted him the power of summoning light from the Sun and bestowed this power to any of his descendants that Svarog deemed worthy. He vowed to destroy all Fatarnae that came into his sight, hence the popular belief that vampires are afraid of the Sun."
The translucent professor stopped suddenly when he noticed that he had been so involved in his lecture that he had not seen his students leave fifteen minutes ago when the bell rang.
A cold bite in the air kept the students from drifting further into drowsiness. The heavy lunch had left them all in longing for a restful nap. As they were making a complicated Pacifying Potion, the Potions room smelled pungently of Chrysanthemums.
The Professor had paired Natalia with Draco in making this potion. Draco watched apathetically as the girl cut the Chrysanthemum petals into slender strips, soaking them into linseed oil. She looked up at the blond boy while cutting the petals.
"Draco, are you going to do anything other than visit Hypnos all day?"
The wandering thinker found his way back to the present with a worried look in his eyes.
"I'm sorry, it seems that my mind is just a bit distracted today."
Natalia nodded, reading every expression of anxiety on his face.
"You look like you have just seen a Boggart." Natalia said in hopes of alleviating his distress, however much she disliked him.
Draco stood, quietly saying,
"I'm just...never mind, it's nothing." he said quickly, dismissing the topic. The Slytherin went over to the table.
"Here let me cut that."
He took the knife from her and started hacking roughly at the flowers. Natalia had to bite her tongue to suppress a laugh. Quite suddenly, the knife slipped and buried its blade deep into Draco's finger. The boy remained impassive, promptly grabbing a cloth and wrapping it around his finger.
"It will get infected that way." Natalia said, hastily rising to get a Wound-Cleaning Potion from Snape's cabinets. She came back and took Draco's pale hand, cradling it in her own. Pouring the liquid onto a clean rag, she carefully applied the potion to his finger. He jerked at the sting of the potion but she held onto his hand firmly, looking up at him saying,
"Where is all the bravery that I see so often?"
Draco frowned slightly and looked back at her, saying in a low voice,
"I'm not a bloody Gryffindor."
Natalia grinned, pressing down on his finger until the wound closed up. She took the rag off his hand.
"See? All better."
He smirked at her, saying in a teasing manner,
"Well, you are actually good for something after all."
She caught his eye and smiled softly at him, glad to see that for once he had dropped his calloused demeanor.
"You have no idea." Turning back to the table, she added, "You better let me finish that. I do not know how calming Slytherin blood can be in a potion."
The refined young Malfoy sat back down and watched in admiration as the girl skillfully conjured up a perfect Pacifying Potion.
The weekend passed in a whirlwind. Natalia had lent her potions expertise to the Weasley twins in making a new kind of sugary treat that gave the eater the ability to jump great distances for an hour. They had gone through more than twenty batches before they were successful.
On Sunday night, Natalia took Amicus out for a quick flight after a tiring day of dealing with scores of leaping Gryffindors.
She breathed in the cold night air while her dragon flew above the school trying to set the stars on fire. For the first time since she was eight, she felt that she was home. Home...the word rang in her ears with a pleasant resounding tone. How she wished this could last forever.
As her eyes adjusted to the darkness, she saw a figure sitting by itself in the Quidditch stands. Curious, she went up closer only to discover that it was Draco Malfoy. Strange, she thought, I wonder where his two cronies are. Seeing that he had his face buried in his hands in what seemed to be a gesture of dismay, she approached him, concerned.
Draco felt a scent of jasmine sit down quietly next to him. He sighed softly. His solitude was to be disrupted after all. He turned to rebuke whoever had disturbed his privacy. As he was about to speak, he stopped in awe of the person next to him. At first glance, he thought that Artemis herself sat next to him. But after a moment, he realized it was Natalia.
"Natalia," he said in a weary tone, "not all my wounds can be healed."
The dark-haired girl looked at him with her piercing green eyes, the moonlight reflecting off her pale skin to create a soft aura about her. She nodded in understanding and waited patiently for him to continue. They sat there for the longest time; so long that Amicus flew back to the castle knowing that Natalia would be out for a while. The moon had almost risen to its highest point before Draco began speaking again.
"You know my family are devout followers of the Dark Lord." he said cautiously.
The wind picked up at the mention of the Dark Wizard.
"My Father has always planned for me to be a Deatheater. Last night was my first time practicing the Unforgivable Curses."
His carefully folded hands tightened, his mouth settling into a grim line.
"He had taken an elderly Muggle for me to practice on. I was first instructed to perform the Imperius Curse. I made the Muggle cast aside his cane and stagger around the room with bricks on his back." he said with a repulsed voice.
"When I released him from the curse, he was crying in pain from the swelling of his extremities. Then my Father made me execute the Cruciatus Curse."
Draco closed his eyes, his voice shaking from the vivid memories.
"The man was screaming out for me to stop, insisting that I kill him. So to fulfill his wishes, my Father instructed me to do so."
Tears covered the hardened face of the Slytherin. His voice cracked, words coming out in suppressed hoarse sobs.
"I...couldn't...I couldn't take my eyes...off of him as he - as he died."
He shut his eyes, trying to drive the images away.
"He stared at me with those tortured, accusing eyes, even in his death. And yet, there was not a trace of hatred for me in them."
His whole body shook, convulsing in the waves of agony. Natalia quietly took him in her arms, gently rocking the tormented boy until he calmed.
As he lay there, he felt a peace settle in his mind. Slowly evening out his ragged breaths, he drowned himself in the soft scent of jasmine as he slowly drifted into the lull of sleep.
