Chapter 11: The Beckoning
Iris shook her head trying to clear it of the voice from her dreams. "It is time..." it beckoned. She growled in protest and beat the floor with her fists. She was becoming dizzy and disoriented. The tears falling from her eyes were clouding her vision. She couldn't move her sorrow was weighing her down, but some strange tiny part of her was pulled in the direction of the Forrest.
"Come to me...."
Her eyes grew wide open and all of her instincts told her to run. Run as far away from the Forrest as she could. She pushed herself up off the ground barely feeling the weight of her own body as a numbness set over her. She ran away from the Forrest taking shelter near a greenhouse. She sank to the floor again knowing her legs could not hold her very much longer. Fear gripped every muscle in her body. Her poured seemed to drip the terror she felt. That voice was repeating itself over and over in her mind. It had to be in her mind. She couldn't actually be hearing it.
She suddenly felt immense regret for not taking the dreamless sleep potion. The dreams were obviously affecting her thoughts. That was all that was happening. She tried to reassure herself that the voice growing louder and louder in her ear was merely a reaction to her nightmare and the emotional trauma tonight had been.
"Come to me my dear. It is time to join me. You have the gift, but I can give you the power to make it strong. To wield that power...."
She closed her eyes willing the voice to stop; praying that this pull from the Forrest was only her desire to find Severus. Her mind flew back to Severus. What if he was in the Forrest? Was he hurt? Was he in danger? Could he get away? Would he even try? As her thoughts turned in his direction she did not even notice that she had begun a slow rhythmic walk towards the Forrest. He feet hit the floor evenly like a bride in her wedding march.
When the realization of her own movement dawned on her she could do nothing to stop it. She began to fall farther and farther back into the recesses of her mind. She saw the walk as it had been in her dreams. Like standing back and watching another person she observed her own movements. It was strangely graceful, and frightening the way her body glided through the spaces between the trees. It knew where to go. It was as if this had all happened before. She became vaguely aware of other people in the Forrest. She did not see them but rather, she sensed them. This one was twenty feet away, while that one was forty. Most were menacing presences. Some only frightened, but she knew she would not be harmed by any of these. It was the long finger motioning her through the dark recesses of the Forrest that sent beads of icy sweat running down her back. This man was to be feared.
Someone approached her. She turned silently to greet the stranger. A hooded man with a white mask. He came upon her so quickly that she barely had time to react when he seized her by the back of the neck. She felt the harsh brush of the dark fabric of his cloak on her face, and the cold spidery fingers clenching her neck. Then there was nothing.
()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()
Iris awoke with her head resting on a dirty floor covered in dead leaves and straw. She couldn't move her arms. Tugging at them panic stricken she realized she was chained to this floor in the shape of a large x. Her arms above her in shackles and her feet below her strapped in a similar fashion.
She heard muffled talking in the distance. Trying to lay a still as possible Iris closed her eyes and listened.
"It was a good meeting tonight master."
"No thanks to you and your pathetic efforts at recruiting. We almost lost the new young one."
"But the girl sire! She is here."
"Yes, She is. So I no longer require your assistance. I have her now." There was silence for a moment. " Avada Kedavra" and then the sound of a body falling to the floor.
Iris gasped inhaling some of the dirt beneath her. She choked, and coughed loudly propelling the grime from her swollen throat. She heard heavy measured footsteps approaching her, and a body leaning over her. She closed her eyes allowing her tears to fall freely.
"Welcome my dear. It has been a long task finding you, and drawing you to me. Alohomora." The shackled binding her wrists and ankles fell open. She did not know whether to move or stay still. "Due rise and greet you new master. It is not every day two who will be so united meet for the first time."
Propelled by some outside force once again Iris felt her body rise and turn in the direction of the penetrating voice. She held her eyes closed tight. A low and disgusting laugh began to emanate from the space in front of her. "So shy. We have little time for such eccentricities my child." She felt her eyelids rip open against her will and she lost the ability to breathe as she stared into the eyes of Lord Voldemort.
It was him. There was no other possible explanation. She could not draw her eyes away despite her best efforts. She saw deep into him past his appearance now of a wiry man with sallow skin and into his eyes. She saw him down low and degraded. Covering his face with a hood. Hideous unthinkable slits rather than facial features. Skin that looked almost like tiny scales radiating evil from every pore. The man standing in front of her flickered for a minute between a semi normal image and this picture of a grotesque macabre fantasy. Until all she saw was a frightening snake like creature.
"We are already connected you know. I have servants who saw to that. One in particular. A young Mr. Malfoy. Feeding you potions that allowed me to visit you in dreams. To take more control of your body each day until now you are almost completely mine. Now we have only the fun to play out. I can hardly contain my anticipation.
"You have no idea what you are or what you will become do you?" He sneered and his teeth seemed to be living breathing entities of evil within him. "You are a seer. A pathetically unskilled one it is true, but you hold many other qualities that I searched for. Along with a certain loyalty that I find extremely useful. No, you will never betray me. Not when the consequences are so...unpleasant for you loved one."
Images of Severus flashed in her mind. He was cold, hard and dead on the floor before her. She cried out unable to contain her fear.
"Do not worry little one. He is fine, for now. I have you now. You are indeed a seer, but you will be the most powerful seer man has ever known. You will aide me as no other could." He laughed now. The sound reminded Iris of what a thousand cries of pain would be if they were compressed into one foul screeching chuckle.
"Yes, you are perfect." He passed by her placing a mangled hand on her shoulder. "Like I said your skills as a seer could have gone unnoticed, they are truly nothing to be gawked at, but you are intelligent. Yes, you are very intelligent. Beautiful as well, but not untouchably beautiful. That was a necessity. The world is often fooled by beauty and you will draw in them all. Your wit, your temper...I had never hoped to find such fire. Such capacity to fuel power from anger. You feel it burning in you right now don't you."
He had been circling Iris' trembling form tracing a long corpse like finger along her face and neck. He now stopped directly in front of her leaned his face in toward hers as if he would kiss her. The sides of his mouth twisted upwards in a sick mockery of a smile and Iris smelled death leak out from between his worm like lips.
She felt weak and sick. He knees gave out and she longed for the fall that was ahead on her. Anything to separate her from the feeling of bile rising from her stomach when he was that close to her.
He caught her with one spidery arm, and pulled her close to him. He skin froze and charred all at once under his foul touch. "Yes, I can feel your anger...and your fear." His laugh sent waves of revulsion through Iris. She could not hold it in any more. He dropped her to the floor, and she retched until nothing but dry heaves would leave her trembling weakened form.
"It is time to begin my pet." Iris felt him hit the back of her head, and once again she was falling into darkness.
()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()
Iris opened her eyes slowly. She hoped that it had all been a dream and that the throbbing in her head was the result of too much butterbeer. It wasn't.
Her eyes struggled to adjust to the darkness of the room. It was more of a cave actually. She was once again tied to a hard surface. This time she was face up on what felt like a wood. She assumed it was a table. She was shivering uncontrollably. The cold air in the room was hitting her everywhere. Finally the reason for this registered in her weakened state. "Dear God I am naked."
Frantically Iris searched the room for any other occupants. Her tension eased slightly when she knew that there were none. She was alone, for now. All at once the reality of her situation hit her. Her body melted into the hard table underneath her. There was no hope. She was trapped in some God forsaken place with the most vile creation of mankind since Grindelwald. The resistance had been working for years to locate, and destroy him. There was no reason to believe that they would have better luck now just because she had the unfortunate destiny to be his....oh God what was she? What was he going to do to her?
In the far corner of the cave she heard hinges of a door squeak and unmistakable unfathomable scent of living death as Voldemort approached. The fear that gripped Iris was so cold and intense that it left her body lifeless. She was frozen in place. All awareness of herself left as she counted down the steps of her dreaded companions decent to her side.
"Ah, you have awoken my pet. Then we indeed shall begin." He stepped back and Iris heard the sound of metal scraping a stone surface. He was sharpening something. "This is a very ancient very powerful ritual. You are privileged to play such a ...vital role in its completion. We are going to become joined. Blood companions seers into the past, present, and future. More powerful than you can even imagine." Iris closed her eyes muttering a silent prayer for the quick release of death rather than an eternity joined with this creature. He clicked his tongue at her in disapproval. "Oh, it's simply no fun when you don't watch. I want you to remember this forever." Once again her eyelids were thrust open. She held her breath trying to prepare for the onslaught of pain that would surely follow a statement like that. Nothing could have prepared her for this.
()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()
*****Thankyou again for the reviews. Sinister Papaya Fondue I am happy to hear you have weakness for a steamy Snape scene as well! Ultrahotpink thank you so much for reading. I'm very pleased you thought my story original. I have to admit I assume there are about a thousand out there just like it, but I relish the compliment nonetheless! I hope whatever it is its enjoyable! :)
Iris shook her head trying to clear it of the voice from her dreams. "It is time..." it beckoned. She growled in protest and beat the floor with her fists. She was becoming dizzy and disoriented. The tears falling from her eyes were clouding her vision. She couldn't move her sorrow was weighing her down, but some strange tiny part of her was pulled in the direction of the Forrest.
"Come to me...."
Her eyes grew wide open and all of her instincts told her to run. Run as far away from the Forrest as she could. She pushed herself up off the ground barely feeling the weight of her own body as a numbness set over her. She ran away from the Forrest taking shelter near a greenhouse. She sank to the floor again knowing her legs could not hold her very much longer. Fear gripped every muscle in her body. Her poured seemed to drip the terror she felt. That voice was repeating itself over and over in her mind. It had to be in her mind. She couldn't actually be hearing it.
She suddenly felt immense regret for not taking the dreamless sleep potion. The dreams were obviously affecting her thoughts. That was all that was happening. She tried to reassure herself that the voice growing louder and louder in her ear was merely a reaction to her nightmare and the emotional trauma tonight had been.
"Come to me my dear. It is time to join me. You have the gift, but I can give you the power to make it strong. To wield that power...."
She closed her eyes willing the voice to stop; praying that this pull from the Forrest was only her desire to find Severus. Her mind flew back to Severus. What if he was in the Forrest? Was he hurt? Was he in danger? Could he get away? Would he even try? As her thoughts turned in his direction she did not even notice that she had begun a slow rhythmic walk towards the Forrest. He feet hit the floor evenly like a bride in her wedding march.
When the realization of her own movement dawned on her she could do nothing to stop it. She began to fall farther and farther back into the recesses of her mind. She saw the walk as it had been in her dreams. Like standing back and watching another person she observed her own movements. It was strangely graceful, and frightening the way her body glided through the spaces between the trees. It knew where to go. It was as if this had all happened before. She became vaguely aware of other people in the Forrest. She did not see them but rather, she sensed them. This one was twenty feet away, while that one was forty. Most were menacing presences. Some only frightened, but she knew she would not be harmed by any of these. It was the long finger motioning her through the dark recesses of the Forrest that sent beads of icy sweat running down her back. This man was to be feared.
Someone approached her. She turned silently to greet the stranger. A hooded man with a white mask. He came upon her so quickly that she barely had time to react when he seized her by the back of the neck. She felt the harsh brush of the dark fabric of his cloak on her face, and the cold spidery fingers clenching her neck. Then there was nothing.
()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()
Iris awoke with her head resting on a dirty floor covered in dead leaves and straw. She couldn't move her arms. Tugging at them panic stricken she realized she was chained to this floor in the shape of a large x. Her arms above her in shackles and her feet below her strapped in a similar fashion.
She heard muffled talking in the distance. Trying to lay a still as possible Iris closed her eyes and listened.
"It was a good meeting tonight master."
"No thanks to you and your pathetic efforts at recruiting. We almost lost the new young one."
"But the girl sire! She is here."
"Yes, She is. So I no longer require your assistance. I have her now." There was silence for a moment. " Avada Kedavra" and then the sound of a body falling to the floor.
Iris gasped inhaling some of the dirt beneath her. She choked, and coughed loudly propelling the grime from her swollen throat. She heard heavy measured footsteps approaching her, and a body leaning over her. She closed her eyes allowing her tears to fall freely.
"Welcome my dear. It has been a long task finding you, and drawing you to me. Alohomora." The shackled binding her wrists and ankles fell open. She did not know whether to move or stay still. "Due rise and greet you new master. It is not every day two who will be so united meet for the first time."
Propelled by some outside force once again Iris felt her body rise and turn in the direction of the penetrating voice. She held her eyes closed tight. A low and disgusting laugh began to emanate from the space in front of her. "So shy. We have little time for such eccentricities my child." She felt her eyelids rip open against her will and she lost the ability to breathe as she stared into the eyes of Lord Voldemort.
It was him. There was no other possible explanation. She could not draw her eyes away despite her best efforts. She saw deep into him past his appearance now of a wiry man with sallow skin and into his eyes. She saw him down low and degraded. Covering his face with a hood. Hideous unthinkable slits rather than facial features. Skin that looked almost like tiny scales radiating evil from every pore. The man standing in front of her flickered for a minute between a semi normal image and this picture of a grotesque macabre fantasy. Until all she saw was a frightening snake like creature.
"We are already connected you know. I have servants who saw to that. One in particular. A young Mr. Malfoy. Feeding you potions that allowed me to visit you in dreams. To take more control of your body each day until now you are almost completely mine. Now we have only the fun to play out. I can hardly contain my anticipation.
"You have no idea what you are or what you will become do you?" He sneered and his teeth seemed to be living breathing entities of evil within him. "You are a seer. A pathetically unskilled one it is true, but you hold many other qualities that I searched for. Along with a certain loyalty that I find extremely useful. No, you will never betray me. Not when the consequences are so...unpleasant for you loved one."
Images of Severus flashed in her mind. He was cold, hard and dead on the floor before her. She cried out unable to contain her fear.
"Do not worry little one. He is fine, for now. I have you now. You are indeed a seer, but you will be the most powerful seer man has ever known. You will aide me as no other could." He laughed now. The sound reminded Iris of what a thousand cries of pain would be if they were compressed into one foul screeching chuckle.
"Yes, you are perfect." He passed by her placing a mangled hand on her shoulder. "Like I said your skills as a seer could have gone unnoticed, they are truly nothing to be gawked at, but you are intelligent. Yes, you are very intelligent. Beautiful as well, but not untouchably beautiful. That was a necessity. The world is often fooled by beauty and you will draw in them all. Your wit, your temper...I had never hoped to find such fire. Such capacity to fuel power from anger. You feel it burning in you right now don't you."
He had been circling Iris' trembling form tracing a long corpse like finger along her face and neck. He now stopped directly in front of her leaned his face in toward hers as if he would kiss her. The sides of his mouth twisted upwards in a sick mockery of a smile and Iris smelled death leak out from between his worm like lips.
She felt weak and sick. He knees gave out and she longed for the fall that was ahead on her. Anything to separate her from the feeling of bile rising from her stomach when he was that close to her.
He caught her with one spidery arm, and pulled her close to him. He skin froze and charred all at once under his foul touch. "Yes, I can feel your anger...and your fear." His laugh sent waves of revulsion through Iris. She could not hold it in any more. He dropped her to the floor, and she retched until nothing but dry heaves would leave her trembling weakened form.
"It is time to begin my pet." Iris felt him hit the back of her head, and once again she was falling into darkness.
()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()
Iris opened her eyes slowly. She hoped that it had all been a dream and that the throbbing in her head was the result of too much butterbeer. It wasn't.
Her eyes struggled to adjust to the darkness of the room. It was more of a cave actually. She was once again tied to a hard surface. This time she was face up on what felt like a wood. She assumed it was a table. She was shivering uncontrollably. The cold air in the room was hitting her everywhere. Finally the reason for this registered in her weakened state. "Dear God I am naked."
Frantically Iris searched the room for any other occupants. Her tension eased slightly when she knew that there were none. She was alone, for now. All at once the reality of her situation hit her. Her body melted into the hard table underneath her. There was no hope. She was trapped in some God forsaken place with the most vile creation of mankind since Grindelwald. The resistance had been working for years to locate, and destroy him. There was no reason to believe that they would have better luck now just because she had the unfortunate destiny to be his....oh God what was she? What was he going to do to her?
In the far corner of the cave she heard hinges of a door squeak and unmistakable unfathomable scent of living death as Voldemort approached. The fear that gripped Iris was so cold and intense that it left her body lifeless. She was frozen in place. All awareness of herself left as she counted down the steps of her dreaded companions decent to her side.
"Ah, you have awoken my pet. Then we indeed shall begin." He stepped back and Iris heard the sound of metal scraping a stone surface. He was sharpening something. "This is a very ancient very powerful ritual. You are privileged to play such a ...vital role in its completion. We are going to become joined. Blood companions seers into the past, present, and future. More powerful than you can even imagine." Iris closed her eyes muttering a silent prayer for the quick release of death rather than an eternity joined with this creature. He clicked his tongue at her in disapproval. "Oh, it's simply no fun when you don't watch. I want you to remember this forever." Once again her eyelids were thrust open. She held her breath trying to prepare for the onslaught of pain that would surely follow a statement like that. Nothing could have prepared her for this.
()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()
*****Thankyou again for the reviews. Sinister Papaya Fondue I am happy to hear you have weakness for a steamy Snape scene as well! Ultrahotpink thank you so much for reading. I'm very pleased you thought my story original. I have to admit I assume there are about a thousand out there just like it, but I relish the compliment nonetheless! I hope whatever it is its enjoyable! :)