Chapter Six: Blood and Books
Iris tried many times to get up out of bed to relieve the restlessness that pounded in her heart, but she found that her legs could barely support the weight of her let alone carry her body through the vigorous activity she yearned to do. She pushed the blankets off her body again and swung her legs over the side of the bed. "That is it! I am going to walk out of here if it kills me!" Pressing her hands against the bed on either side of her Iris propelled her body forward. For a brief moment she stood straight al tall then toppled into the curtain around her bed knocking the entire encasement forward and onto the bed opposite hers.
"SHIT!"
"I couldn't have put it better myself."
Iris felt the heavy fabric of the curtains being lifted off of her. Cocking her head to one side she saw the kindly, much older, face of Albus Dumbledore twinkling down at her. Despite her best efforts to regain a little dignity a joyous smile broke out on her face and she shook with laughter.
"Professor Dumbledore! I wanted to get up. I just don't seem to be able to."
"Ah, well the attempt was admirable my dear. I knew the Gryffindor in you would not tolerate bed rest even at this hour. I was informed that you had awoken, and I thought I might try to persuade you to stay put. It seems I am little late." Iris only grunted in response. Extending his hand Dumbledore helped Iris out of the sea of fabric and back to the safety of her bed. "My dear, as much as I admire your astounding ability to smile and appear jovial after your ordeal, I must ask you this. Do you know what happened to you?"
Iris bit her bottom lip and looked to the floor. She was not ready to tell anyone. Not yet. Dumbledore may have found her laughter brave, but Iris knew it was mere cowardliness. She had always pushed this away. Better to pretend to be happy than feel pain. If you spent enough time pretending than you could eventually convince yourself it was real."I'm sorry Professor, but I don't remember anything." Her eyes remained glued to the floor. Looking up at the kind old man would mean she would simply start revealing everything. Dumbledore had a strange effect on her. On everyone she imagined. "I don't really know what to say. I guess I should say thank you for saving me, or finding me, but I have to confess that I am not sure it was you who did it. I really don't remember anything."
"I was worried that might be the case." Dumbledore's mouth twitched into a slight smile which left as quickly as it appeared. "Well, rest assured my dear, we will do our very best to aide you in eventually remembering. We will all be here should you need us. It is simply magnificent that you have returned to us after so many years. Gave us all quite a start actually. Although I am reasonably sure Professor Snape was given the shock of his life."
Iris' head shot up and she stared at Dumbledore mouth wide open in disbelief.
"Professor Snape?" Her face became ghostly pale. "You can't mean..."
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"Severus?"
"Albus how may I help you?" Severus looked up from the stack of papers he was grading.
"Oh, I just came down for a chat. It has been a while since I have been down here for any good length of time."
Severus frowned. Dumbledore certainly did not come just for a chat. "Albus kindly get to the point I am terribly sorry, but I am in no condition to endlessly beat around the bush."
"No, I imagine you are not. Didn't sleep well last night?"
"No, I did not. Surely we are not here to discuss my insomnia."
"She is an empathetic seer. It will be a hard life for her."
Severus allowed his gaze to drop, "A hard life? This is dark magic we are talking about here Albus not a muggle learning disability, Dark Magic!" The words echoed through his brain until he felt numb. "Empathetic seers are agents of Dark Blood. This, 'gift' as they call it, is given to witches or wizards through blood coupling, a horrific procedure, and that is being kind.
"A potion was injected magically into her stream. It was a mixture of the blood of a powerful and deadly wizard drained by his own hand and the blood of whatever good wizard it is that he had just cursed. A dead man's blood drained in a ritual slaughter. Slaughters we have not seen since the muggle pagan times. As if this was not enough it is then mixed with Unicorn blood, the purest magical creature ever to roam the earth.
"Albus this will be much more than 'a hard life.' She is eternally bound to Voldemort through the very blood that pumps through her veins." Severus felt his body go limp where he stood. He wanted to scream, to lash out at someone. It would be a very poor night for any student that crossed his path today.
"She remembers more than she is willing to reveal. It is dangerous for her to conceal all this knowledge, especially of who you say she is linked to. Severus I believe that you would have a better effect on her."
"What." Severus spat at him. His face grew pale and tight. "I cannot question her Albus. I dare not assume that she will even speak to me." His voice grew hoarse. "I am sorry but it is out of the question."
"Severus I have no doubt that you sincerely wish to prevent her further emotional trauma by refusing to speak with her, however, I simply must insist. I is far more dangerous that she keep what happened to her silent. We need to know and you need to find out. Her being an empath gives us some insight as to her past, but there is still the question of why she has not aged one year from her disappearance. If I assume rightly this 'procedure' of becoming a seer was nothing to what has frozen her state in time. Talk to her Severus; do not push me further on the subject." Severus did not often see Dumbledore with a look of fierce command on his face, but he knew that there would be no talking him out of it.
"I will. I cannot, however, guarantee that she will be willing to talk to me."
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"I don't understand Harry? Who did you see last night? You can't mean you saw your mother?" Hermione lowered her voice and peered sympathetically at her friend.
"No, she wasn't my mother she only looked like her. This was girl, and girl around our age."
"But no on in Gryffindor is sick." Ron piped in looking less than thrilled to be heading for the library on a Saturday.
"Exactly" Harry grabbed Hermione's hand and led her into the library so quickly she almost tripped.
"All right we will figure this out," she snorted. "Oh. Harry. What did you say she looked like?" Her chocolate eyes glazed over for a moment deep in thought.
"She looked...like my mother. Red hair, smallish, I don't know. She looked beautiful." Harry suddenly felt awful. "I have to sit down."
Hermione followed him briskly. "You have heard the legends right? I mean you can't really not know who this could be? I can't believe I didn't realize sooner."
"Oh man! You saw HER! Fantastic!" Ron chimed in.
"No, I have NOT heard the legends. Would someone just tell me!" Harry snapped.
"Well," Hermione said disappearing in one of the long rows of bookshelves. "Well, I guess it's the wizarding equivalent of a ghost story or an urban legend. It first started happening around the late 1970s."
Hermione looked down at the book she had pulled and read aloud, "It was in the later half of the decade that the first recorded sightings of a young girl in the Hogwarts halls began. Those who state that they have seen her describe her as around the age of 15 with startlingly blue eyes and bright red hair. Unlike traditional ghosts the girl does not appear with any tangible consistency, and she has never been recorded to have spoken to any of those who have seen her. The most common form she appears in is similar to a muggle hologram. 'She drifted in and out of our vision. She just walked looking around her.' one man remembers his sighting as a child, 'It looked like her mouth was moving but I couldn't hear anything.' In 1990 the number of recorded sighting of who is now called 'the red girl' was an astounding 712. For further information on the origin of 'the red girl' see Hogwarts: Guide to its Dark Secrets. " Hermione looked up at Harry "Very original name," Hermione snorted. "Harry does that sound right?"
"No, I mean the description of what she looks like is right I guess, but she wasn't a hologram. She was real. I mean she was sleeping for gods sake; do holograms sleep?"
"It doesn't answer the question of why Madam Pomfrey and Professor McGonnagal were talking about her either. This book refers you to another, should I look at that?"
"It couldn't hurt," Harry replied, but noticed that Hermione was already out of her seat searching the bookshelves.
She came scrambling back with an angry look on her face. "It's in the restricted section. That means they don't want us looking in it. That means its valuable information," Hermione got a frenzied look in her eye. "Harry."
"Tonight. My Dad probably had no idea how often that cloak would come in handy."
"Great!" Ron exclaimed. "Even the library gets exciting when we shouldn't be in it." The look of mischievous glee on his face could only be rivaled by his twin brothers.
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Thank you so much to anyone who has been reading. Caytebelle I just realized I have yet to thank you for your review! Oh no! Anyway, thank you so so much. You got me to write another chapter. :)
Iris tried many times to get up out of bed to relieve the restlessness that pounded in her heart, but she found that her legs could barely support the weight of her let alone carry her body through the vigorous activity she yearned to do. She pushed the blankets off her body again and swung her legs over the side of the bed. "That is it! I am going to walk out of here if it kills me!" Pressing her hands against the bed on either side of her Iris propelled her body forward. For a brief moment she stood straight al tall then toppled into the curtain around her bed knocking the entire encasement forward and onto the bed opposite hers.
"SHIT!"
"I couldn't have put it better myself."
Iris felt the heavy fabric of the curtains being lifted off of her. Cocking her head to one side she saw the kindly, much older, face of Albus Dumbledore twinkling down at her. Despite her best efforts to regain a little dignity a joyous smile broke out on her face and she shook with laughter.
"Professor Dumbledore! I wanted to get up. I just don't seem to be able to."
"Ah, well the attempt was admirable my dear. I knew the Gryffindor in you would not tolerate bed rest even at this hour. I was informed that you had awoken, and I thought I might try to persuade you to stay put. It seems I am little late." Iris only grunted in response. Extending his hand Dumbledore helped Iris out of the sea of fabric and back to the safety of her bed. "My dear, as much as I admire your astounding ability to smile and appear jovial after your ordeal, I must ask you this. Do you know what happened to you?"
Iris bit her bottom lip and looked to the floor. She was not ready to tell anyone. Not yet. Dumbledore may have found her laughter brave, but Iris knew it was mere cowardliness. She had always pushed this away. Better to pretend to be happy than feel pain. If you spent enough time pretending than you could eventually convince yourself it was real."I'm sorry Professor, but I don't remember anything." Her eyes remained glued to the floor. Looking up at the kind old man would mean she would simply start revealing everything. Dumbledore had a strange effect on her. On everyone she imagined. "I don't really know what to say. I guess I should say thank you for saving me, or finding me, but I have to confess that I am not sure it was you who did it. I really don't remember anything."
"I was worried that might be the case." Dumbledore's mouth twitched into a slight smile which left as quickly as it appeared. "Well, rest assured my dear, we will do our very best to aide you in eventually remembering. We will all be here should you need us. It is simply magnificent that you have returned to us after so many years. Gave us all quite a start actually. Although I am reasonably sure Professor Snape was given the shock of his life."
Iris' head shot up and she stared at Dumbledore mouth wide open in disbelief.
"Professor Snape?" Her face became ghostly pale. "You can't mean..."
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"Severus?"
"Albus how may I help you?" Severus looked up from the stack of papers he was grading.
"Oh, I just came down for a chat. It has been a while since I have been down here for any good length of time."
Severus frowned. Dumbledore certainly did not come just for a chat. "Albus kindly get to the point I am terribly sorry, but I am in no condition to endlessly beat around the bush."
"No, I imagine you are not. Didn't sleep well last night?"
"No, I did not. Surely we are not here to discuss my insomnia."
"She is an empathetic seer. It will be a hard life for her."
Severus allowed his gaze to drop, "A hard life? This is dark magic we are talking about here Albus not a muggle learning disability, Dark Magic!" The words echoed through his brain until he felt numb. "Empathetic seers are agents of Dark Blood. This, 'gift' as they call it, is given to witches or wizards through blood coupling, a horrific procedure, and that is being kind.
"A potion was injected magically into her stream. It was a mixture of the blood of a powerful and deadly wizard drained by his own hand and the blood of whatever good wizard it is that he had just cursed. A dead man's blood drained in a ritual slaughter. Slaughters we have not seen since the muggle pagan times. As if this was not enough it is then mixed with Unicorn blood, the purest magical creature ever to roam the earth.
"Albus this will be much more than 'a hard life.' She is eternally bound to Voldemort through the very blood that pumps through her veins." Severus felt his body go limp where he stood. He wanted to scream, to lash out at someone. It would be a very poor night for any student that crossed his path today.
"She remembers more than she is willing to reveal. It is dangerous for her to conceal all this knowledge, especially of who you say she is linked to. Severus I believe that you would have a better effect on her."
"What." Severus spat at him. His face grew pale and tight. "I cannot question her Albus. I dare not assume that she will even speak to me." His voice grew hoarse. "I am sorry but it is out of the question."
"Severus I have no doubt that you sincerely wish to prevent her further emotional trauma by refusing to speak with her, however, I simply must insist. I is far more dangerous that she keep what happened to her silent. We need to know and you need to find out. Her being an empath gives us some insight as to her past, but there is still the question of why she has not aged one year from her disappearance. If I assume rightly this 'procedure' of becoming a seer was nothing to what has frozen her state in time. Talk to her Severus; do not push me further on the subject." Severus did not often see Dumbledore with a look of fierce command on his face, but he knew that there would be no talking him out of it.
"I will. I cannot, however, guarantee that she will be willing to talk to me."
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"I don't understand Harry? Who did you see last night? You can't mean you saw your mother?" Hermione lowered her voice and peered sympathetically at her friend.
"No, she wasn't my mother she only looked like her. This was girl, and girl around our age."
"But no on in Gryffindor is sick." Ron piped in looking less than thrilled to be heading for the library on a Saturday.
"Exactly" Harry grabbed Hermione's hand and led her into the library so quickly she almost tripped.
"All right we will figure this out," she snorted. "Oh. Harry. What did you say she looked like?" Her chocolate eyes glazed over for a moment deep in thought.
"She looked...like my mother. Red hair, smallish, I don't know. She looked beautiful." Harry suddenly felt awful. "I have to sit down."
Hermione followed him briskly. "You have heard the legends right? I mean you can't really not know who this could be? I can't believe I didn't realize sooner."
"Oh man! You saw HER! Fantastic!" Ron chimed in.
"No, I have NOT heard the legends. Would someone just tell me!" Harry snapped.
"Well," Hermione said disappearing in one of the long rows of bookshelves. "Well, I guess it's the wizarding equivalent of a ghost story or an urban legend. It first started happening around the late 1970s."
Hermione looked down at the book she had pulled and read aloud, "It was in the later half of the decade that the first recorded sightings of a young girl in the Hogwarts halls began. Those who state that they have seen her describe her as around the age of 15 with startlingly blue eyes and bright red hair. Unlike traditional ghosts the girl does not appear with any tangible consistency, and she has never been recorded to have spoken to any of those who have seen her. The most common form she appears in is similar to a muggle hologram. 'She drifted in and out of our vision. She just walked looking around her.' one man remembers his sighting as a child, 'It looked like her mouth was moving but I couldn't hear anything.' In 1990 the number of recorded sighting of who is now called 'the red girl' was an astounding 712. For further information on the origin of 'the red girl' see Hogwarts: Guide to its Dark Secrets. " Hermione looked up at Harry "Very original name," Hermione snorted. "Harry does that sound right?"
"No, I mean the description of what she looks like is right I guess, but she wasn't a hologram. She was real. I mean she was sleeping for gods sake; do holograms sleep?"
"It doesn't answer the question of why Madam Pomfrey and Professor McGonnagal were talking about her either. This book refers you to another, should I look at that?"
"It couldn't hurt," Harry replied, but noticed that Hermione was already out of her seat searching the bookshelves.
She came scrambling back with an angry look on her face. "It's in the restricted section. That means they don't want us looking in it. That means its valuable information," Hermione got a frenzied look in her eye. "Harry."
"Tonight. My Dad probably had no idea how often that cloak would come in handy."
"Great!" Ron exclaimed. "Even the library gets exciting when we shouldn't be in it." The look of mischievous glee on his face could only be rivaled by his twin brothers.
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Thank you so much to anyone who has been reading. Caytebelle I just realized I have yet to thank you for your review! Oh no! Anyway, thank you so so much. You got me to write another chapter. :)