Chapter Thirty
Stone and Crystal
Corey popped out of the basement of Honeydukes and out towards the front, buying a token amount of candy out of guilt as well as hunger before the four of them ran out into the streets of Hogsmeade and down towards the forest edge.
"Of course, I should have thought of that before. Keki's Grove in some ways is safer than Hogwarts," Danny said as the three of them ran towards the Grove.
"Well, hopefully it'll stay that way, but better safe than sorry. They may be able to approach the forest from above it," Corey explained, "although I'm not sure they'd be able to really lift this thing out," he said, heading to the very center of the Grove. There under the beautiful pink and white spring blossoms of the trees lay the Stone of Destiny in the center of the path, and Corey couldn't help but think that it seemed to belong there. A soft, mournful sound was in the air as the wind floated through the trees, and Doug shook his head curiously from side to side, wondering what was causing it.
"Do you think that any evil Fae could really get in here?" Taylor asked, "It feels as peaceful as ever, like nothing could ever touch the place."
"Why is the stone weeping?" Danny wondered thoughtfully. The four of them got closer then, looking it over.
"Now that is very weird," Doug said, shaking his head.
"But I still don't get the impression anything is wrong," Danny said.
"I do," Taylor stammered, and Corey looked over to see his pale face.
"What, Taylor?" Corey asked, but all Taylor did was point.
That was when the four of them saw the wolf…or was it? It wasn't a werewolf; the moon was wrong for that. But something in its red eyes told them right off that it wasn't altogether a wolf either, yet enough of one, it seemed, that it could travel through the grove unharmed, masquerading as one of its denizens.
Before they could so much as draw their wands, it pounced. Suddenly a large dog charged it from the side and knocked it to the ground, and the two of them immediately broke into a ferocious fight. Chills went down Corey's spine as if he'd seen something like this before, raising up his hand as if to cast a spell.
"Sirius!" Danny shouted in realization, pulling out her wand.
"Don't! You might hit the wrong one!" Doug advised.
"Watch out! It's changing!" Doug warned, and so it was. The creature reformed into a large black tiger, twice the dog's size.
"It's a pooka! But an evil one!" Corey realized.
"Pooka means 'evil,' you know that, don't you?"
"This is no time for a magic lesson, Taylor!" Doug yelled at him, bringing out his wand. "Glamora!" Brilliant stars and sparks like firecrackers burst in front of the two beasts' eyes, momentarily blinding the tiger enough that the dog let go.
"Grab my hands!" Danny shouted and the others did as they were told, joining forces as Danny announced the spell. They didn't cast it right away; apparently Danny was waiting for something and Corey wasn't sure quite what. Just before he felt he couldn't stand the wait any longer, the Pooka made the move Danny was waiting for and attempted to change its shape. Corey found himself acting in time with the others, concentrating on the target as a burst of grey light came from his hand and their wands hitting the Pooka dead on as the Living Stone spell swept around it. It turned into strange statue of a tiger with horns and hoofed feet, making it difficult to tell what the Pooka was trying to change into.
"Uncle Sirius!" Corey said, running over to side. He was covered in bites and scratches, and as he changed to his human form, his clothes were tattered and torn. "Are you okay?"
"I've been better," Sirius said dryly, allowing Corey to help him up and leaning on the Stone to steady himself. But the moment he touched the Stone, a brilliant sound came out of it… a loud, melodic high-pitched voice that sang out even after Sirius took his hand away, staring at it in complete bewilderment.
Just then, they heard footsteps from behind them as Anna ran up and over to Sirius, followed by Dumbledore and Severus.
"Sirius! What happened? You're bleeding! The twins started glowing, but I couldn't seem to get to you in here," Anna said with frustration, her poking at his wounds only making him wince in protest.
"Whoever's causing that dreadful noise with the Stone, please step away from it," Severus said suspiciously.
"Apparently that would be me," Sirius said sheepishly, moving Anna slightly to the side so he could move away from it.
"Are you descended from Arthur or something too?" Corey asked excitedly.
"Never mind that! What are the four of you are doing here when you were told to go directly to your rooms?" Severus asked, his eyes flashing.
"We were bagging a Pooka, sir," Corey said, nodding to the statue.
"It's my fault, Severus. I think they followed me here, afraid that I would run into trouble on my own," Sirius interrupted, the four kids trying not to stare in surprise. "And apparently, I would have."
"They still left school property without permission," Severus retorted.
"Now, now, we can discuss this back in the castle, Severus. I'm sure we can come up with fair punishments for all that deserve them. I need to discuss what happened with the centaurs to see what we can do about guarding the Grove against Shapeshifters before I go to the Ministry to inform them about what happened and the need to go ahead and fix the gate. I trust you students can manage to actually make it to your dormitories this time?" Dumbledore said, looking over the rim of his glasses.
"Yes, sir," the four of them said, glancing at each other.
"I will see that they get back personally," Severus said, his eyes flashing again. "Sirius, are you going to come get those wounds looked at or not?"
"Do you think Pomfrey will put me to sleep?" Sirius asked hopefully, earning a slight rib from his wife, rubbing his side painfully.
"What about me? Don't I deserve any sleep?" Anna protested.
"Well you could be sleeping now while Ginny's watching them," Sirius retorted.
"What, while you're busy chasing evil beings around Hogsmeade?" Anna glared at him. Severus rolled his eyes and gave Corey a shove ahead, keeping the students in sight as they walked back to the castle.
It was just as the game started that Essie slipped up the stairs. She switched to mouse form the moment she reached the top, scurrying across the floor and wriggling under the door. It seemed odd being in there without all the smoky incense or the smell of green tea bubbling in the back of the room. But she wasn't about to let herself get rattled now when she had come so far. Carefully she worked away across the room and behind the curtain, looking around unsurely. She had never been back there before.
Instead of a regular office, it seemed that the curtain lead right to Trelawney's sitting room; a very unkempt, pillow-tossed room with books stacked on their sides and odd papers with all sorts of markings taped on the wall, many of them with tiny beads or dolls or silver knot medallions dangling around them. A curious lever dangled down from the ceiling from what appeared to be a sort of sunroof, perhaps to look at the stars on clear nights. And underneath was a low table filled with dirty teacups as if the House Elves never came up there, perhaps after being chased away once too often. Stubby, drippy candles were lit around the room, but it was a box sitting on the table beside the couch that got Essie's attention.
She changed into her own form and gently lifted the box and the ornate silk scarf underneath it to find a beautiful crystal ball. She suddenly felt rather envious of it; it was much bigger than hers and made of milky crystal instead of clear like her own. Even as she put her hand on it, she felt a tingle run through her. Was this then what a real crystal ball felt like? Getting comfortable, she settled it in front of her, attempting to relax despite her nervousness about getting caught. Would Trelawney understand when she explained? She tried to put that out of her mind, concentrating only on the matters at hand.
Focusing on Icarus again, she muttered the phrase she had learned before as she put herself in a trance and gazed into it. Immediately the swirling began again, but this time she felt herself being pulled, as if something inside her was being pulled into the crystal. This isn't right, the crystal was only a medium for visions. It shouldn't be taking anything, she thought in confusion. What was going on? It was then that she heard a voice, clear as a bell echoing in her mind, knowing at once that it was Icarus.
"Essie, do not trust the crystal, it is not what you think," Icarus' voice said. "Trust yourself to know what's right. Don't fall for its tricks!"
The echo of his voice was still ringing in her ears as a picture began to appear, and she began to see an image of herself, standing in front of Hogwarts. But the castle was different somehow… dark, and abandoned, with great signs she couldn't read standing all around it. Suddenly she heard a rumbling sound as a line of bulldozers and wreckers appeared over the grounds, heading towards the castle as she watched in horror.
"They say it was a home of wizards and ghosts at one time, not that I believe in that sort of thing," a worker said with a clipboard to a land developer.
"Even if they did exist once, they're gone now. It's all about survival of the fittest in the end," said the voice, a familiar voice that chilled her, and as the man turned around she was the ice cold eyes of Lucius Malfoy looking over at him. "Take it down," he added, looking over at it with a face filled with mixed anger and loss. "Don't leave one stone of it standing."
"Essie!" The view changed abruptly and she looked to see her brother Corey, coming out of the barn. "Come on, we have a ton of sheep left to tag, you know."
"I don't want to tag sheep anymore," Essie heard herself say. "We can't let this happen, can't we fix this?"
"Fix what?"
"The magic," the Essie in the ball said. "It can't be gone, not really."
"Don't you remember? The gate got opened, and all the magic poured out into the Otherworld and shut again. We can't fix it, Essie."
"But what about Aunt Jennifer and Uncle Severus?"
"Don't call them that, they're not your aunt and uncle!" Corey said venomously. "None of us would be in this mess if it wasn't for them. It's gone, Essie, it's gone for good, and there's nothing we can do to stop it."
"I could have stopped it," a ghostly voice said, and the view changed to one of a spirit overlooking the sea. "At least, I thought I could have. Perhaps I only made it worse. But no one will ever know now, will they?" Icarus said.
"Can you see it? Can you see what might happen? Even now it's starting," The image of Trelawney invaded the ball. "The faerie folk search this castle for the very things that will lead us to our destruction. If we don't stop those who want to open the gate, we will only be helping bring about the end of our world. Even Dumbledore cannot see the results of what will happen when that gate opens. But the truth, perhaps, is even more than he can bear. I have seen the end, Icarus, and I will fight it."
"Would you fight me? Would you fight Dumbledore?" the image of Icarus asked. "You can not possibly believe these dark visions actually will come about. What of you, Essie? What would you do to insure that our world does not disappear?" it asked.
Another vision appeared, of robed ex-wizards and wizards wandering the streets of towns, unsure of how to make their way in a Muggle world. Essie cringed, but then shook her head. No, that's just plain silly. Sure, they might be clueless at first, but they'd get used to it… did she even want to get used to it? Stop casting spells? Stop being able to turn into a mouse, or fly a broom, no matter how bad she was at it?
"You have a powerful gift and powerful visions, Essie," said another voice, and she saw the image of her father, sitting in the barn beside Corey. He was sheering a sheep, which bleated in protest. It was so real… she could almost smell the wool as it came off. "You have seen what may happen. You must act now or all will be lost. I can show you how," the vision said. "And to prove myself, I shall tell you what will happen next. You shall look away from the crystal to see your professor standing in the doorway, and she will remind you of something she told you when you first met," he said. "Then you will know this is real."
"So, I wondered when you would end up in my room," said a voice.
But this time it was a real voice coming from someone standing in the doorway of the room Essie was in. She looked up quite startled to see the large, unsurprised eyes of Madame Trelawney, studying her through her spectacles.
"You came looking for your friend, but you found much more than you bargained for. I warned you when you first entered my class not to touch the ball before you were ready," Trelawney said, shaking her head sadly as she closed the curtain behind her. "I can see by your eyes that you also have seen visions in the crystal and know the future that awaits us."
"I didn't see anything about the future in the ball," Essie said carefully.
"Oh, but your eyes betray you, Miss Willowby. I can tell when someone has been touched with the greatness that can be found in that ball. It is made of a special crystal that can only be found in one place; only someone ready to accept the Gift can truly accept the wisdom it shows," she said enigmatically. "I have been toiling long and hard to make sure that bleak future will not come about, and I have done everything in my power to try and stop it."
"This ball, you said it's made from special crystal. It came from the Crystal Cave itself, didn't it? Does Lady Viviane know it's here?" Essie asked with alarm.
"That cave has power even older than the Lady herself, Essie," she said softly.
"But it's dangerous! Professor Dusthorn told us that sometimes it's hard to see the truth from the lies in the crystal there," Essie warned.
"You are speaking second hand about something you cannot possibly understand. Every vision I have ever seen in this crystal has come about. Every single one! And yes, sadly, even the ones that I myself had to carry out," Trelawney admitted. Essie stood up in surprise.
"Ones you had to carry out?" Essie said, growing pale. "But… but then it was you… you were at the dance that night! You changed the ladles!"
"Essie, you must understand, I did not know she was expecting at the time or perhaps I would have waited… but then again… I saw myself do it, so I knew I had to…" she said distantly.
"Why? Why would anyone try to hurt Professor Craw?" Essie shouted angrily.
"Don't you see? She was helping Dumbledore get all the pieces together! The Sentinels were going to open the gate... the gate that will end all magic forever!" Trelawney said, grasping Essie by her arms tightly to try to make her understand. "And then Dumbledore had to go and interfere with his Time-Turner and undo all the work I had done," she muttered, sobbing uncontrollably. "To make matters worse, Icarus never gave me a moment's peace. He kept asking me for my visions… demanding to know how often I've seen them… and then… in a weak moment, I gave in and told him, and that spirit decided to go straight to Dumbledore. I hurried down to the Memoriatorium, pausing only to set a trap for Janus, for I knew he would not be long in finding me. But I'm afraid that Icarus will never be found again. I foresaw that as well," Trelawney said, shaking. "We must give in to our fated path, you know. Attempting to fight it is futile. I only hope that you can learn to accept your own fate."
"What do you mean?" Essie asked, becoming even more frightened.
"You realize I can't possibly let you go with what you know. I must finish what I've started, and I'm afraid…" she paused, brushing away the tears that threatened to burn down her cheeks. Then she gave Essie a very mad smile. "You're in the way now."
"Please, Madame Trelawney! Don't you see that there's something wrong with that ball? Don't you see what it's done to you? You're a slave to it. You're not controlling the future. It's controlling you!" Essie shouted at her, but Trelawney only shook her head.
"I am so very sorry, Essie. You were such a promising student. But I'm afraid you're going to have to go away now," Madame Trelawney explained, waving her wand at Essie.
As the girl suddenly dropped to the ground, unconscious, Trelawney shakily reached for the cloth and covered the ball as if it took all her strength to do so. Then she sat down and poured herself a cup of tea, completely ignoring the burning sensation as boiling tea crested the sides of her shaking teacup and seared her trembling hands.
