"What do you think?" Viviane held up a white dress as she faced Stefan.
"Very nice," Stefan gave his approval, "so is that the one?"
"Yep, I absolutely love it, but do you think Colin will?" She looked a bit apprehensive.
"He'll love it," Stefan told her confidently, "now try it on for me; I want to see how gorgeous you look in it."
Viviane rolled her eyes at him as she stepped behind the dressing screen in his room. "Hopefully it won't be too long before Dierna will be shopping for a dress like this," Viviane spoke as she changed, "but the real question is, will she be wearing white on the big day?" There was a teasing lilt to her voice.
"Hey! That's none of your business Miss Snape."
"That's the future Mrs. Bennet to you MacNeill," Viviane looked around the screen and stuck her tongue out at him.
"Very attractive, that must be why Colin loves you so much," he commented dryly.
Viviane raised an eyebrow at him, "of course, you thought there was another reason? Besides you know you love me too."
Stefan laughed, "Of course I do, now hurry up and get out here, I'm still waiting to see you in that dress."
"Alright, hold on a minute," Viviane smoothed the soft folds of the white fabric with her hands before she came out from behind the screen, "well?"
Stefan let out a low whistle, "very nice. You look beautiful."
Viviane blushed and moved to the full length mirror so she could see herself. The white, strapless, satin sheath hugged her form. There was a thin stripe of pale pink ribbon that ran around the hem and the short train in the back of the dress. She turned in a slow circle as she looked in the mirror, "you think this is the right dress?"
"Definitely, it's a beautiful wedding dress and you will make a beautiful bride. Now, how many days left on the countdown till you will be Mrs. Bennet?"
Viviane smiled, "56, counting today."
Serena smiled at Mark as he reached for her hand and brought it up to his lips. They had managed to find a deserted classroom at the top of one of the towers and it looked like they would get a few hours alone.
"How much trouble are you in because of me?" Mark asked.
"It's not your fault Mark, I'm off the quidditch team for awhile, but I'm still allowed to see you. It could be worse..."
"I still feel bad about it," Mark kissed her fingers and moved down to her hand, he raised his eyes to hers while his lips were pressed against her palm.
"I like that," Serena purred at him.
"Good," his eyes were soft as they looked into hers.
Serena found herself blushing and she tried to draw her hand away, but Mark pulled back and she ended up toppling into his lap. As she tried to right herself she felt Mark's arms encircle her and she smiled at how nice they felt.
"Mark..."
"Hmmm..." Mark pressed his lips against Serena's silky hair.
"I thought about what we talked about before, and I think, I mean I want to..."
Mark turned Serena so that he could look in her eyes again, "only if you are completely sure, I don't want to pressure you into anything."
"So, you've spent your whole life living in temple?" William asked Sophia.
"Yes, it's a temple consecrated to the earth mother, she is the mother of all the gods and all life on earth. I'm one of her virgins and I will be her priestess soon."
"What about your parents? Are they at the temple or did they send you there to be trained?"
"Oh, I never knew my parents," Sophia answered somewhat flippantly.
"I'm sorry."
"I'm not," Sophia brushed off the condolence, "they exposed me when I was born, they didn't want me."
"They left you out to die?! Why would they do something like that to their own child?" William couldn't believe what he had just heard.
Sophia shrugged, "I don't know, all I know is that they were one of the magical tribes that still wanders the area. They probably didn't want me because they were facing a time of hunger or the simply didn't want another child. They left me on the beach and Cadmus; he's the leader of a warrior group, found me and brought me to the temple. They gave me to Kalliope because her daughter was killed."
William tried to take in everything Sophia had just told him, "that all sounds pretty horrible to me; I still can't imagine anyone abandoning their child like that."
"It doesn't happen that often now, only occasionally in the tribal groups."
"You are lucky that someone found you."
"The goddess watches out for her own, if she has me marked to be her priestess then I will not come to too much harm."
"You really believe in this goddess?"
Sophia stopped walking and faced William, hands on her hips, "do you dare insult my goddess?! She is the mother of the universe and she controls all that happens. She is the sender of visions, the protector of women, and the punisher of men. She will deal with you for your insolence!"
William held out his hands in front of him, as thought to ward off Sophia's verbal attack, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean it that way. I've never even heard of your temple before and I was just looking for an explanation, not to be cursed by some deity I never knew existed."
"Oh... well you should still respect Her. But I guess that I can't expect a mere man to understand."
"What's that supposed to mean?" it was William's turn to feel insulted, although he was also rather amused.
Kalliope followed Remus and Sirius towards a tower on the east side of the school; she trailed slightly behind them looking around her. She worked over the situation in her mind, trying to figure out how to explain to a 13 year old girl the source of her visions; she shook her head, deciding to wait till she met the girl to figure that out. That led to another thought, "are they expecting us?"
Remus, a little surprised by the question since she had been silent for most of the walk, replied, "I sent a house elf to inform them that we were coming up while you were getting your things situated in your room."
Kalliope nodded in acknowledgement, and decided to find out as much as she could before they reached their destination, "how is she being dealt with now?"
"Her parents have kept her with them; they're a bit shaken up by this as well, especially since she kept it a secret for so long."
"Her parents are here?" Kalliope frowned, the last thing she needed was overprotective parents getting in her way when she had work to do.
"Yes, they're both teachers here," Remus answered, "does that make a difference?"
Kalliope sighed, "Remus, this is not an easy situation, and I can promise you now that this girl will have to face some difficult choices and her suffering is not over yet. I just don't need hovering parents getting in my way when I'm trying to help her, even if it seems like she is hurting."
Remus nodded in understanding, but chose not to give her any indication of how he thought the Snapes would react; he knew how protective Severus could be of his girls. They climbed one last staircase and Remus announced, "This is it, ready?"
Kalliope nodded in affirmation.
Remus raised his hand to knock on the door, but it was opened from the other side before he had a chance. He smiled slightly, "been waiting for us Minerva?"
Minerva shook her head at Remus, there was something that seemed different about him, but she couldn't put her finger on what it was, "the poor girl is incredibly nervous, I think it best that we make the introductions as soon as possible. And this must be the priestess," she nodded in Kalliope's direction.
Kalliope stepped forward, "I am Kalliope, a priestess and oracle of the mother goddess. I hope that my service to Her will help the child in question."
Minerva stepped back, "then I think you should meet her," and she led them into the room.
Serena looked into Mark's eyes. She trusted him completely and felt sure that this was what she wanted; her only hope was that no one would find out. As bad as her father's reaction had been when he found out she had a boyfriend she didn't want to think about how he would react to this.
She sighed, she wanted this and it seemed right and she couldn't imagine going back now. As Mark's lips found hers everything seemed to fall into place. This was what she wanted, and she kept telling herself that.
Morgan clutched Nimue's hand in her own as her daughter looked at the priestess wide-eyed as the introductions were made. Morgan found that she wasn't taking very much in; she was too concerned about how here daughter was trembling.
"I would like some time alone with Nimue," Kalliope's voice cut into Morgan's reverie.
"I'm not sure if I think that's a wise idea," Severus frowned as he put an arm around his daughter possessively.
Kalliope countered him calmly, "I think that the two of us can communicate better if we are given time alone, I will be able to help her to the best of my abilities. What do you think Nimue, are you willing to work with me one on one?"
Nimue had sat silent through al the proceedings up to this point, she finally found her voice, "yes," she answered a bit tentatively, "I think that would be easiest."
Kalliope smiled warmly at the girl, "then I think the two of us should go for a little walk, we have a lot to discuss," Kalliope moved to the door and waited for Nimue to join her and was pleased when the girl left her parents without any hesitation.
The two of them moved down the hallway and Kalliope gently laid a hand on the girl's arm, "is there someplace we can go where we will not be interrupted?"
Nimue nodded, "Yes, there's a small study room only one floor down that I don't think anyone uses."
Kalliope smiled at her, "that would be perfect, there is much you need to know and I would like to be able to explain it to you without being interrupted."
They made their way down to the study room; Kalliope closed the door behind them and with a wave of her hand conjured several large pillows on the floor. She sat cross-legged on one and motioned for Nimue to come sit in front of her. When the two of them were sitting knee to knee Kalliope began, "the art of seeing has a long tradition. It occurs much more frequently in women than in men, my people say that it comes from the goddess that we serve, sometimes it is seen as a gift, sometimes a curse. Are you following me so far child?"
Nimue frowned, "why is it a curse?"
"It is not always a curse. It is a gift that the goddess bestows on a select few, however, when a woman is ridiculed for her gift, or she is not believed, it can seem like a curse. One of my ancestors, Kassandra of Troy, suffered because no one believed her visions."
Nimue's eyes widened slightly, "so, is this gift passed down through bloodlines?"
"Somewhat, although it can skip many generations, it might be easier to just show you."
"Show me?"
"Here, give me your hands," Kalliope pressed her hands to Nimue's, palm to palm, "I'm going to form a connection with you now, visions will pass between us showing you the history of my bloodline and then the history of your own, are you ready?"
Nimue nodded, and tried to prepare herself, she felt the now familiar rushing in her ears as the first wave of visions hit her. The visions shifted in and out, showing her the history of the women in Kalliope's line who had shared the gift of the visions...
The vision shifted, it showed her a high walled city and a large mountain in the background, the harbor was chocked with ships. It moved in closer and she saw a young woman who looked eerily similar to Kalliope, even her mode of dress did not appear that different. The woman in her vision raised her arm and pointed at a man across from her, who had a beautiful woman clinging to his arm, she cried out, "He was to die, but he lives and now with that whore he brought back with him our city will burn! Our fate is sealed, the gods have spoken. I who am beloved of the mother goddess and of Apollo have seen it!" She watched as the other people in the vision laughed at this pronouncement and Nimue felt her stomach twist in fear, she had seen death and destruction, would it play out in the same way as this?
The vision twisted, it was the same woman again, only it appeared several years had passed, the woman was at the top of the city, watching her home erupt in flames. She stood before a temple and cried out for the protection of the gods as a group of men approached her, Nimue knew that they had to be the enemy. She watched in horror, for though the woman had claimed the sanctuary of the temple, they still advanced. She thought she was going to be sick when one of the men grabbed the woman and threw her to the ground, taking her there on the steps of the temple.
She saw the woman again, her belly round with child, as she crouched in the back of a ship as it crossed the choppy Aegean. She saw her stand before another woman as her captor's head was struck from his body. She saw her flee, and eventually, holding her child, reach a temple by the sea.
Kalliope's voice cut into the vision, "that is my temple, from that point on my ancestors have served the goddess there."
Nimue watched as a progression of priestesses passed before her mind's eye as the vision continued. They passed quickly, showing her women serving their goddess, and then they slowed again, showing her Kalliope as a young woman.
Nimue saw her initiation into the ranks of the priestesses. She saw her praying to her goddess, arms upraised voice crying out. She saw her assisting a group of devotees to the goddess who came to the temple, a group of men, warriors. Nimue's stomach tightened, this seemed so familiar... so like the vision she had seen of Kassandra...
She watched, even though she didn't want to, she knew what would happen when one of the men approached Kalliope and roughly pulled her off. Nimue couldn't block the vision when this man, so like the other warrior, took Kalliope on the steps of her own temple.
Nimue watched as the vision shifted, showing her holding a child, Nimue briefly wondered how anyone who had suffered like that could be happy and obviously love the child so much. But then she saw a flash, and a horrible symbol appeared in the sky. Nimue instantly recognized it as the mark of Voldemort. She watched as a group of masked death eaters converged on the temple. She saw one rip the child from Kalliope's arms, his mask falling away as he did so. She gasped, it was Draco Malfoy, she watched, tears streaming down her face as he killed the child. The tears turned to sobs when the other man, who she could only guess was Draco's father, fell on Kalliope. Why should one woman suffer so much? Was this how her goddess protected her own?
But then the vision shifted and Nimue nearly gasped, she saw Kalliope cradling the broken body of her child as Professor Lupin held Kalliope in his own arms. She saw him comforting the priestess, standing by her side as the funeral pyre consumed those who had died at the hands of the death eaters. He was by her side when a warrior from one of the tribes pressed a child into Kalliope's arms telling her that she had been abandoned and he hoped that she in some way might help atone for what Kalliope had lost. And that vision ended...
"Why?!" Nimue choked out, "why does your goddess let you suffer so much, why does she not protect you better?" The tears continued to stream down her face.
"The goddess does not always reveal her purposes," Kalliope replied, tears in her own eyes.
"No one should suffer like that... is my own history that brutal?"
Kalliope thought for a moment, "I do not know, we will find out together when you show me."
"But how will I show you if I don't know what it is?" Nimue asked, feeling like all of this was going way over her head.
"You know it; you just don't realize it yet. I can show you how to unlock that information, now are you ready?"