SHARING THE SUNLIGHT WITH THE FREE - THE DAWN
Chapter Five
Seeing Kière, his face full of jubilant triumph as he lifted the Goblet above his head, threw the unexpected time shift out of Aurelia's mind.
'You won!' she cried, as he reached them, beaming from ear to ear.
'Well done!' came Professor Gryffindor's voice as he threaded his way through the students. 'Well done, Master Banning!' He clapped Kière on the back.
Kière acknowledged Professor Gryffindor's congratulations, then turned back to Aurelia, still smiling widely.
'I did it, Aurelia. I did it! Look!' He held the Goblet out to her - it was but a plain wooden casket, appearing to be nothing out of the ordinary.
'Oh, I knew you could, Kière!' Aurelia took the Goblet from his outstretched hands to examine it.
The moment it touched her hands, the Goblet began to glow. Surprised, Aurelia nearly dropped it. The Goblet was getting brighter and brighter, until the top suddenly ignited, bursting into brilliant gold flame. All around, people gasped in amazement. Kière gaped at her openly. Professor Gryffindor was staring at her in shock. Professor Ravenclaw, who was with the two sixth-year competitors, rushed forward, eyes wide. Professor Hufflepuff, with the other two competitors, froze altogether. And Professor Slytherin was looking at her with a shrewd, calculative look that was not comforting at all.
Professor Ravenclaw was the first to recover. She gently pried the Goblet away from Aurelia's dumbstruck fingers. Upon leaving her hands, it continued to glow, though less brightly. The flame diminished to only a dancing blue spark.
'Well, it seems that Banning's Mudblood girlfriend has tried her hand at enchanting the Goblet. Perhaps we should look into Banning's methods of winning.' drawled Darby.
Before either Kière or Aurelia could react, a sharp voice cut through the gloom.
'Enough! Silence, Darby!' Everybody looked surprised to hear Professor Slytherin speak up. 'We will return to the castle now.'
With hushed whispers, the students turned and followed the Professors back. Aurelia stayed rooted to the spot, still numb with shock at what had just happened. This night was turning into one of many unanswered questions.
'Aurelia.' Kière touched her arm lightly. 'Let us go.'
She did not move. She was still frozen in shock.
'Aurelia. The professors will handle this. They will find the reason. Do not worry.' Kière, never failing to allay her fears. 'Come on.'
'That was so strange. And before that. Something happened when we were walking.' Aurelia tried to explain about the time threshold.
'Listen, Aurelia, I do not understand any of this any more than you do. But I know that no good will come of standing here to try and puzzle it out. Shall we return, then?'
'Yes - I.all right.' Aurelia finally found the use of her limbs again.
They walked in silence most of the way. Only after five minutes did Aurelia suddenly realise that she had not yet offered her best friend her congratulations.
'Kière. I am sorry - I forgot to tell you - congratulations.'
Kière laughed merrily. 'I do believe that slipped my mind as well! The way that Goblet glowed in your hand, I think I had myself believe you were the winner!'
Kière's laugh had always been contagious. Aurelia found herself joining in. As they walked on, in the dark, Kière took her hand. After all the surprises Aurelia had faced today, she certainly hadn't expected one more. This was a nice one, though, a warm, tingling feeling as she felt his fingers around hers.
She was glad it was dark and also that Leroy was not around. Because she was really blushing now.
~
All the fuss had died down by the time All Soul's Day rolled around, just after Samhain. Kière had been presented the title of Hogwarts Samhain Champion. The Goblet of Fire had been lighted, not by her, but by the normal way, with all four professors using their wands at the same time. It had been extinguished and put away again. The school settled down and classes resumed as normal.
Professor Ravenclaw had discussed the extraordinary happenings with her.
'All four of us talked about it. It is amazing, after all, that you managed to ignite it by your touch alone. You did not use a wand on it, did you?'
'No.'
Professor Ravenclaw had shook her head, as though it had been something she did not believe.
'It is a wonder.I would not have believed it possible if I had not seen it with my own eyes.do you know, Aurelia, that strong as our magic is, neither one of us can light the Goblet by ourselves, even with a wand?'
Aurelia had shook her head, no. She had not known. She did understand the implications of Professor Ravenclaw's statement, however. The four professors were perhaps some of the most powerful witches and wizards of their age. And yet.this.
'The only way we have ever been able to light the Goblet is at the time of Samhain, when there is much magic floating around in the air. The air is saturated with magic. We draw on that for more power, and hence manage, with the four of us together, using our wands to focus it, to light the Goblet. Of course, the magic saturation must have aided you a fair bit, but even so, this is still a remarkable achievement.'
'I - I never thought I could.' Aurelia had been at quite a loss for words.
'We are all quite certain that this will not have that much of an impact on you physically, nor will it affect your prowess at magic - quite the contrary, in fact. We came to the conclusion that you, Aurelia, are destined to be a very powerful witch one day.'
Now Aurelia had been really speechless. Professor Ravenclaw had laughed at her wide-eyed expression.
'A little much for a young girl such as yourself to take in, I am sure. Do not worry too much over it. You have far to go yet. Do not let all this affect you now.'
Reliving the conversation in her mind, Aurelia realised that Professor Ravenclaw had mentioned 'we all'. Which must mean Professor Slytherin included. Somehow, this bothered Aurelia. Professor Slytherin had never liked her, had never believed that she would ever amount to much. In his eyes, her parentage degraded her. Why would he suddenly acknowledge the prowess of a witch of Muggle-birth?
Maybe he has seen the light. That I'm just as qualified, no matter what my background.
No. That is not right. That is not characteristic of Professor Slytherin.
The image of Professor Slytherin after he had seen the Goblet of Fire in her hands crossed her mind. His look, sly, cunning.
The events of the night replayed themselves over and over again in her head. Crossing the threshold. The stones and the sacrificial altar. Returning, and holding the Goblet of Fire. The Goblet glowing brightly before igniting. Were all these somehow connected? And what had they to do with her?
Aurelia kneaded her forehead with her fists. She was tired, she had been in the library the whole day whenever she had a free minute, searching. She had practically searched through the entire collection of books (which was more than a hundred of them - the professors added to it every year), but she could find no answers about what was happening to her.
So far, the only step forward she had taken was to discover that there existed a place in England created a thousand or so years ago. Stonehenge, it was called. From the description, Aurelia thought it sounded very much like the place where she had been.
But what was the use of having a hint as to where the place was? Knowing where she had been was not so important as to why she had been there. And what had happened after. There had been no literature whatsoever as to the meaning of the Goblet of Fire's strange reactions to her.
Sighing deeply, Aurelia slammed yet another book shut and sent it flying back into a bookshelf with her wand. Should she just quit now and return to the common room? It was late, nearly midnight. Her candle was flickering, before her.
One more, she told herself, and summoned another book to her.
The old, worn cover was enough to convince her that she had found what she was looking for. The title was in an indistinguishable alphabet, an ancient runic spelling, but the simple faded drawing below was a perfect replica of the stone arrangement she had seen.
~
A week later, she wished she had never come across the book. It was a complete headache - not a single recognizable word in it, just the picture- like runic alphabet. She tried to make sense of it between classes, in the evening, during meal-times. It was driving her to frustration.
Then a strange thing happened. The writings began to come clear, as though a voice in her head was translating it all. Only it was not really a verbal translation, but rather an imaging of whatever the book described. Basically, it was a vision of druidic life. She was watching the life of the earliest wizards, long ago.
The book had been written by the druidess Circe, and depicted the belief system and workings of magic of druids, a long time ago. It seemed a happier time, thought Aurelia. Then, magic and non-magic folk lived in peace, and those born with magic (the druids) were revered as the leaders of the community. In such peaceful surroundings, at ease with nature, magic hung more thickly in the air, especially on days such as Samhain. It was on that day, too, that time was fluid, and 'thresholds' such as that she had crossed were opened. A purely magical day, was Samhain.
The only hitch in it all was the ritual of human sacrifice that existed then. Aurelia found it rather sickening that they believed that a person must be sacrificed to appease the gods, a person that would be killed upon the sacrificial altar and offered, such that their blood would cleanse the world. How such a killing could actually clean, she could not comprehend. Yet now she understood more clearly what had transpired that night when she had been there. As a 'gift' from the future for the altar, she had almost been a sacrificial offering. However, the dark-haired man, who had probably been a druid, had released her.
She shared her discovery with Kière, who was just as enthusiastic.
'It must be a message, Aurelia!' he insisted. 'Look at it this way, you have crossed time. You have been told by a druid that you will play a part in the future. You can read some obscure ancient writing. I think you are a Seer.'
'You may be right. I feel like - like it was all a warning. Something is going to happen, Kière. Something to do with sacrifice. And blood.and cleaning the world. But how can that have anything to do with me?'
'Aurelia, you are the witch that lit the Goblet of Fire on her own. Everyone expects that you possess powers stronger than even the professors. Do you know, there are rumours that Professor Gryffindor is thinking of calling Merlin to come talk to you!'
Aurelia blushed.
'Kière.I should have told you sooner, but I - Professor Ravenclaw did not want.well, it is.not exactly a rumour.'
Kière's mouth dropped open in shock.
'I guess.it has traveled the school faster than the professors expected.' said Aurelia softly.
'How can you be so calm? The great Merlin! The greatest wizard in the world!'
'Kière! I did not know you believed in the superiority of power and magical strength!' Aurelia was slightly shocked. After all, there was no denying that in terms of magical prowess, Merlin was the greatest that could be found, and had been for over a century. This was widely acknowledged in the wizarding world. However, she had always been of the belief that their professors were better - because they possessed qualities surpassing mere ability by far. Courage, bravery, thirst for knowledge and improvement, loyalty, ambition.Merlin was a legendary figure, a faraway hero that made the wizarding world safe from anti-magic Muggles and the horrors of Dark magic. Her professors were the true wizards and witches that dedicated their lives to educating others, providing themselves as real examples that their students could identify with. For these reasons, Aurelia admired them. And she had always thought Kière did too.
'No, no, you misunderstand,' said Kière hurriedly. 'Just that.Merlin! Oh, Aurelia, if you had just grown up in a proper wizarding family, you would have known how important he was.oh!' He bit his lip suddenly, as he remembered Aurelia was Muggle-born, and also that she had indeed been brought up by wizards and witches - namely their professors. 'You are right, it is probably nothing, though.I should not be fussing as the rest of the school does.I am sorry.'
'Quite all right,' said Aurelia quietly.
Kière was looking very uncomfortable now, with that look in his eyes that Aurelia recognized as curiosity over her background. Kière had long since learnt to avoid asking her awkward questions about how it had been to live with Muggles, because of her reactions to such questions in their first- year. He was still curious, she knew, however, she had never been able to bring herself to tell him. Should she, now?
No, not yet, said a voice in her head. Soon, but not now.
It startled her. She could actually hear the voice, but judging from Kière's unchanged expression, he had not noticed anything. Voices telling her things.she wondered.
'Kière? Do you really think I may be a Seer?'
'Why not? Besides the fact that they are supposed to be extinct, and I do not think you are dead yet.' He laughed a little at his joke. Aurelia smiled a bit, but stuck to her question.
'Truly.'
'Why do you not ask Merlin that?' suggested Kière.
It was a good idea. Merlin, if anyone, should know.
'Thank you, I will try that,' she said. 'You give the best ideas, Kière.'
For some reason, he went completely red. Usually, Kière was not the modest kind - it was more like him to grin and reply cheekily that he certainly did have good ideas.
And for some reason, his unnaturally response unnerved her. It was as though her compliment, instead of being merely a normal occurrence in their friendship, had been taken more seriously. Before she could say another word, Kière had smiled shyly - he had never been shy! - and left after a small bow.
She stood there for a while, puzzled, then gathered her books and returned to her common room. Unbidden, the memory of the two of them walking back to Hogwarts on Samhain came to mind. She could feel the flush in her cheeks as she imagined their hands locked.
'What is happening?' she wondered, before brushing the memory aside. Whatever it was, it was not important. This thing about Divine Sight was.
Chapter Five
Seeing Kière, his face full of jubilant triumph as he lifted the Goblet above his head, threw the unexpected time shift out of Aurelia's mind.
'You won!' she cried, as he reached them, beaming from ear to ear.
'Well done!' came Professor Gryffindor's voice as he threaded his way through the students. 'Well done, Master Banning!' He clapped Kière on the back.
Kière acknowledged Professor Gryffindor's congratulations, then turned back to Aurelia, still smiling widely.
'I did it, Aurelia. I did it! Look!' He held the Goblet out to her - it was but a plain wooden casket, appearing to be nothing out of the ordinary.
'Oh, I knew you could, Kière!' Aurelia took the Goblet from his outstretched hands to examine it.
The moment it touched her hands, the Goblet began to glow. Surprised, Aurelia nearly dropped it. The Goblet was getting brighter and brighter, until the top suddenly ignited, bursting into brilliant gold flame. All around, people gasped in amazement. Kière gaped at her openly. Professor Gryffindor was staring at her in shock. Professor Ravenclaw, who was with the two sixth-year competitors, rushed forward, eyes wide. Professor Hufflepuff, with the other two competitors, froze altogether. And Professor Slytherin was looking at her with a shrewd, calculative look that was not comforting at all.
Professor Ravenclaw was the first to recover. She gently pried the Goblet away from Aurelia's dumbstruck fingers. Upon leaving her hands, it continued to glow, though less brightly. The flame diminished to only a dancing blue spark.
'Well, it seems that Banning's Mudblood girlfriend has tried her hand at enchanting the Goblet. Perhaps we should look into Banning's methods of winning.' drawled Darby.
Before either Kière or Aurelia could react, a sharp voice cut through the gloom.
'Enough! Silence, Darby!' Everybody looked surprised to hear Professor Slytherin speak up. 'We will return to the castle now.'
With hushed whispers, the students turned and followed the Professors back. Aurelia stayed rooted to the spot, still numb with shock at what had just happened. This night was turning into one of many unanswered questions.
'Aurelia.' Kière touched her arm lightly. 'Let us go.'
She did not move. She was still frozen in shock.
'Aurelia. The professors will handle this. They will find the reason. Do not worry.' Kière, never failing to allay her fears. 'Come on.'
'That was so strange. And before that. Something happened when we were walking.' Aurelia tried to explain about the time threshold.
'Listen, Aurelia, I do not understand any of this any more than you do. But I know that no good will come of standing here to try and puzzle it out. Shall we return, then?'
'Yes - I.all right.' Aurelia finally found the use of her limbs again.
They walked in silence most of the way. Only after five minutes did Aurelia suddenly realise that she had not yet offered her best friend her congratulations.
'Kière. I am sorry - I forgot to tell you - congratulations.'
Kière laughed merrily. 'I do believe that slipped my mind as well! The way that Goblet glowed in your hand, I think I had myself believe you were the winner!'
Kière's laugh had always been contagious. Aurelia found herself joining in. As they walked on, in the dark, Kière took her hand. After all the surprises Aurelia had faced today, she certainly hadn't expected one more. This was a nice one, though, a warm, tingling feeling as she felt his fingers around hers.
She was glad it was dark and also that Leroy was not around. Because she was really blushing now.
~
All the fuss had died down by the time All Soul's Day rolled around, just after Samhain. Kière had been presented the title of Hogwarts Samhain Champion. The Goblet of Fire had been lighted, not by her, but by the normal way, with all four professors using their wands at the same time. It had been extinguished and put away again. The school settled down and classes resumed as normal.
Professor Ravenclaw had discussed the extraordinary happenings with her.
'All four of us talked about it. It is amazing, after all, that you managed to ignite it by your touch alone. You did not use a wand on it, did you?'
'No.'
Professor Ravenclaw had shook her head, as though it had been something she did not believe.
'It is a wonder.I would not have believed it possible if I had not seen it with my own eyes.do you know, Aurelia, that strong as our magic is, neither one of us can light the Goblet by ourselves, even with a wand?'
Aurelia had shook her head, no. She had not known. She did understand the implications of Professor Ravenclaw's statement, however. The four professors were perhaps some of the most powerful witches and wizards of their age. And yet.this.
'The only way we have ever been able to light the Goblet is at the time of Samhain, when there is much magic floating around in the air. The air is saturated with magic. We draw on that for more power, and hence manage, with the four of us together, using our wands to focus it, to light the Goblet. Of course, the magic saturation must have aided you a fair bit, but even so, this is still a remarkable achievement.'
'I - I never thought I could.' Aurelia had been at quite a loss for words.
'We are all quite certain that this will not have that much of an impact on you physically, nor will it affect your prowess at magic - quite the contrary, in fact. We came to the conclusion that you, Aurelia, are destined to be a very powerful witch one day.'
Now Aurelia had been really speechless. Professor Ravenclaw had laughed at her wide-eyed expression.
'A little much for a young girl such as yourself to take in, I am sure. Do not worry too much over it. You have far to go yet. Do not let all this affect you now.'
Reliving the conversation in her mind, Aurelia realised that Professor Ravenclaw had mentioned 'we all'. Which must mean Professor Slytherin included. Somehow, this bothered Aurelia. Professor Slytherin had never liked her, had never believed that she would ever amount to much. In his eyes, her parentage degraded her. Why would he suddenly acknowledge the prowess of a witch of Muggle-birth?
Maybe he has seen the light. That I'm just as qualified, no matter what my background.
No. That is not right. That is not characteristic of Professor Slytherin.
The image of Professor Slytherin after he had seen the Goblet of Fire in her hands crossed her mind. His look, sly, cunning.
The events of the night replayed themselves over and over again in her head. Crossing the threshold. The stones and the sacrificial altar. Returning, and holding the Goblet of Fire. The Goblet glowing brightly before igniting. Were all these somehow connected? And what had they to do with her?
Aurelia kneaded her forehead with her fists. She was tired, she had been in the library the whole day whenever she had a free minute, searching. She had practically searched through the entire collection of books (which was more than a hundred of them - the professors added to it every year), but she could find no answers about what was happening to her.
So far, the only step forward she had taken was to discover that there existed a place in England created a thousand or so years ago. Stonehenge, it was called. From the description, Aurelia thought it sounded very much like the place where she had been.
But what was the use of having a hint as to where the place was? Knowing where she had been was not so important as to why she had been there. And what had happened after. There had been no literature whatsoever as to the meaning of the Goblet of Fire's strange reactions to her.
Sighing deeply, Aurelia slammed yet another book shut and sent it flying back into a bookshelf with her wand. Should she just quit now and return to the common room? It was late, nearly midnight. Her candle was flickering, before her.
One more, she told herself, and summoned another book to her.
The old, worn cover was enough to convince her that she had found what she was looking for. The title was in an indistinguishable alphabet, an ancient runic spelling, but the simple faded drawing below was a perfect replica of the stone arrangement she had seen.
~
A week later, she wished she had never come across the book. It was a complete headache - not a single recognizable word in it, just the picture- like runic alphabet. She tried to make sense of it between classes, in the evening, during meal-times. It was driving her to frustration.
Then a strange thing happened. The writings began to come clear, as though a voice in her head was translating it all. Only it was not really a verbal translation, but rather an imaging of whatever the book described. Basically, it was a vision of druidic life. She was watching the life of the earliest wizards, long ago.
The book had been written by the druidess Circe, and depicted the belief system and workings of magic of druids, a long time ago. It seemed a happier time, thought Aurelia. Then, magic and non-magic folk lived in peace, and those born with magic (the druids) were revered as the leaders of the community. In such peaceful surroundings, at ease with nature, magic hung more thickly in the air, especially on days such as Samhain. It was on that day, too, that time was fluid, and 'thresholds' such as that she had crossed were opened. A purely magical day, was Samhain.
The only hitch in it all was the ritual of human sacrifice that existed then. Aurelia found it rather sickening that they believed that a person must be sacrificed to appease the gods, a person that would be killed upon the sacrificial altar and offered, such that their blood would cleanse the world. How such a killing could actually clean, she could not comprehend. Yet now she understood more clearly what had transpired that night when she had been there. As a 'gift' from the future for the altar, she had almost been a sacrificial offering. However, the dark-haired man, who had probably been a druid, had released her.
She shared her discovery with Kière, who was just as enthusiastic.
'It must be a message, Aurelia!' he insisted. 'Look at it this way, you have crossed time. You have been told by a druid that you will play a part in the future. You can read some obscure ancient writing. I think you are a Seer.'
'You may be right. I feel like - like it was all a warning. Something is going to happen, Kière. Something to do with sacrifice. And blood.and cleaning the world. But how can that have anything to do with me?'
'Aurelia, you are the witch that lit the Goblet of Fire on her own. Everyone expects that you possess powers stronger than even the professors. Do you know, there are rumours that Professor Gryffindor is thinking of calling Merlin to come talk to you!'
Aurelia blushed.
'Kière.I should have told you sooner, but I - Professor Ravenclaw did not want.well, it is.not exactly a rumour.'
Kière's mouth dropped open in shock.
'I guess.it has traveled the school faster than the professors expected.' said Aurelia softly.
'How can you be so calm? The great Merlin! The greatest wizard in the world!'
'Kière! I did not know you believed in the superiority of power and magical strength!' Aurelia was slightly shocked. After all, there was no denying that in terms of magical prowess, Merlin was the greatest that could be found, and had been for over a century. This was widely acknowledged in the wizarding world. However, she had always been of the belief that their professors were better - because they possessed qualities surpassing mere ability by far. Courage, bravery, thirst for knowledge and improvement, loyalty, ambition.Merlin was a legendary figure, a faraway hero that made the wizarding world safe from anti-magic Muggles and the horrors of Dark magic. Her professors were the true wizards and witches that dedicated their lives to educating others, providing themselves as real examples that their students could identify with. For these reasons, Aurelia admired them. And she had always thought Kière did too.
'No, no, you misunderstand,' said Kière hurriedly. 'Just that.Merlin! Oh, Aurelia, if you had just grown up in a proper wizarding family, you would have known how important he was.oh!' He bit his lip suddenly, as he remembered Aurelia was Muggle-born, and also that she had indeed been brought up by wizards and witches - namely their professors. 'You are right, it is probably nothing, though.I should not be fussing as the rest of the school does.I am sorry.'
'Quite all right,' said Aurelia quietly.
Kière was looking very uncomfortable now, with that look in his eyes that Aurelia recognized as curiosity over her background. Kière had long since learnt to avoid asking her awkward questions about how it had been to live with Muggles, because of her reactions to such questions in their first- year. He was still curious, she knew, however, she had never been able to bring herself to tell him. Should she, now?
No, not yet, said a voice in her head. Soon, but not now.
It startled her. She could actually hear the voice, but judging from Kière's unchanged expression, he had not noticed anything. Voices telling her things.she wondered.
'Kière? Do you really think I may be a Seer?'
'Why not? Besides the fact that they are supposed to be extinct, and I do not think you are dead yet.' He laughed a little at his joke. Aurelia smiled a bit, but stuck to her question.
'Truly.'
'Why do you not ask Merlin that?' suggested Kière.
It was a good idea. Merlin, if anyone, should know.
'Thank you, I will try that,' she said. 'You give the best ideas, Kière.'
For some reason, he went completely red. Usually, Kière was not the modest kind - it was more like him to grin and reply cheekily that he certainly did have good ideas.
And for some reason, his unnaturally response unnerved her. It was as though her compliment, instead of being merely a normal occurrence in their friendship, had been taken more seriously. Before she could say another word, Kière had smiled shyly - he had never been shy! - and left after a small bow.
She stood there for a while, puzzled, then gathered her books and returned to her common room. Unbidden, the memory of the two of them walking back to Hogwarts on Samhain came to mind. She could feel the flush in her cheeks as she imagined their hands locked.
'What is happening?' she wondered, before brushing the memory aside. Whatever it was, it was not important. This thing about Divine Sight was.