Chapter 19 - Interfering prophecies
Carlie and Jess had orbed to Marcus's place for a special little party for Carlie. When Lyndsay and Nathan saw Carlie they started asking immediately if he'd written back
"Yes and he's in prison but he is innocent. That's what he says anyway" Carlie said.
"It's pretty far fetched isn't it though?" Jess said.
Carlie nodded.
"Is there anyway you can prove he is telling the truth?" Nathan asked.
"Maybe it has something in the book?" Lyndsay suggested.
"Like what exactly? I mean sure you can have a truth potion but we need him here to try it" Jess said.
"Let's have a look then" Lyndsay said, running up the stairs.
Carlie, Jess and Nathan sat down on the couch and then Carlie spoke up "Hey this is Marcus's house right?"
"Yeah" Nathan replied.
"Then how come he's not here half the time?" Carlie said.
"You know I was thinking the same thing. We're here like all the time and he's not here half the time. Isn't he supposed to be our guardian or something?" Jess said.
"I don't know but this shit is weird" Nathan said.
"Yeah we're never told what's going on" Jess said.
"We haven't even had any cool adventures yet" Carlie drawled.
"I'm back!" Lyndsay said practically running down the stairs with the very large book in her arms.
"Lynds it wasn't like we missed you or anything" Nathan remarked.
Lyndsay threw the book on the coffee table and began to flick through it.
"Hey check this out. The divination section" Lyndsay said.
"I'm taking divination as a subject next year" Carlie said.
"Well it looks amazing. It's got crystal balls, tea leaf reading, crystal scoping and a bunch of other stuff" Lyndsay said excitedly.
Jess let out a snort and Lyndsay glared at him for a moment before turning back to the book.
"Crystal gazing sounds interesting" Lyndsay said.
"Yeah oh let's look into a ball and see what exactly?" Jess said.
"You obviously don't have great faith in the subject?" Lyndsay said.
"Lyndsay, it's a hazy subject. All that seer bull--"
"You seem to forget Jess that I am a seer" Lyndsay replied her voice icy.
Jess rolled his eyes "It's still bull" He murmured.
"I think that it's worth a try" Nathan said.
"I agree with Nathan, what do we have to loose?" Carlie said.
Jess crossed his arms and looked sulky.
"It says here that with the right amount of power, you can channel a memory from the past" Lyndsay said.
"That's it. We just go back to the memory of when he murdered all those people" Carlie said.
"It's not that simple" Lyndsay said "It says to see into the past is much more difficult than to see into the future. According to this we have to know the exact place and time otherwise it will not work"
"Just when you thought things were easy" Carlie remarked.
"Maybe you should ask him" Nathan suggested.
"That'll be an interesting letter" Jess said.
"No one asked you!" Lyndsay snapped. She was obviously annoyed with Jess.
Jess raised his eyebrows and with a sly smirk he said in a cocky voice "I don't need to be asked by a muggle" He emphasized the word.
Lyndsay smiled "That's right I'm a muggle but I'm a muggle who has real friends."
Carlie mentally slapped herself, she'd told Lyndsay about that.
Jess stood up and before anyone knew what was happening Jess had pulled out his wand and was about to curse Lyndsay when Nathan grabbed Jess's wrist and pulled him back on the couch. Both Lyndsay and Jess were giving each other murderous looks.
"Would you two get over yourselves and maybe we can figure out if Carlie's dad is a lying scumbag or not" Nathan said.
Carlie smiled, when Nathan wanted to be, he was quite forceful.
"How would we find out then the exact time?" Lyndsay asked
"An old newspaper maybe?" Carlie suggested
"Yeah they have them at the school library" Jess said.
"It might not have the exact time though" Carlie said.
"We just need a round about time ya know. Like if it happened at 9:44 and we say 9:40 we'll be okay" Lyndsay said.
"Okay so that's Mcairn's job," Carlie said.
"Why not you?" Jess asked.
"Because if a teacher sees what I'm looking up it may raise some questions being his daughter and all" Carlie said.
"Okay we'll do it tomorrow okay but for now we have presents" Lyndsay snapped the book shut.
Carlie smiled. This was by far the best birthday ever.
Jess was looking around the newspaper archive of the library. Jess knew that Sirius had been thrown it Azkaban about ten years ago and it was just after you-know-who fell because of Harry Potter, so it was around Halloween. Jess browsed the newspapers. He found it quickly. On the front page was Sirius Black laughing as the aurors took him away. Jess scanned the article until he found a time.
Around 11:30am yesterday morning the street was blown up.
Jess was about to put it back when a sentence caught his eye.
Many wonder if Black's wife, Miranda Black previously Mason is also in the league with you-know-who. She has yet to comment on her husband's crime. Sirius and Miranda have been married for about four years and have a daughter, Carlie Black, 3.
Jess was surprised at this; he'd have to ask his father about that. He'd know; he was 'supposedly' in high ranks with the death eaters. He highly doubted Miranda was a death eater though, she wasn't the type. Jess put the paper back and reminder himself. 11:30 am.
Marcus had walked into his house to find Carlie, Lyndsay, Nathan and Jess in his kitchen that opened into the dinning room. They were sitting on a table with a crystal ball in the middle of it and Lyndsay had her hands on it and had a look of concentration on her face.
"May I ask what you are doing?" Marcus asked.
"We're finding out if Carlie's dad was lying when he said he was innocent" Nathan said.
"I don't think it's going to work though" Jess said in a bored voice.
"Shut up" Carlie said sharply.
The crystal ball's smoke was turning red and then Lyndsay went into a trance like state for a while. Marcus was watching intently, it was amazing what these kids could do when they put their minds to it.
Lyndsay's snapped open and she said in a breathless voice, "He's innocent."
"Right, now we have to find Pettigrew" Carlie jumped up.
"Hang on Lyndsay you can just say he is innocent and except us to believe you" Jess said
"Jess I was there, I saw what happened, he is innocent, just like he said" Lyndsay said, her voice had a hint of malice in it.
"Fine" Jess said in an annoyed tone of voice
"Can someone tell me what is going on?" Marcus asked.
Jess took a deep breath "For Carlie's birthday, we wrote to her dad because she doesn't know him. Well he's in Azkaban well because he murdered thirteen people. Dunno if you ever heard of him being in the rapture realm and all but his name's Sirius Black and he wrote back on Carlie's birthday and says he's innocent and we were trying to find out if he was lying and Lyndsay read the book and came up with channeling a memory with a crystal ball and we know he's not lying. So now Carlie wants to find Pettigrew and free Sirius so then her and daddy can live happily ever after"
"I did not say I wanted to live happily ever after I just think it's wrong that a man was imprisoned for murders that he didn't commit" Carlie said.
"Since when did you become a crusader for justice?" Nathan asked.
"I'm not. I just think it's wrong and no one else is going to believe him so it's up to us." Carlie said.
"Us? How are we suppose to we suppose to free him?" Nathan asked.
"That's easy. We just find Pettigrew, it's all the proof we need, I mean Sirius killed him" Carlie answered.
"Sirius Black? As in Harry Potter's godfather?" Marcus asked.
"What does Harry Potter have to do with this?" Jess asked.
"Who the hell is Harry Potter?" Lyndsay asked.
"He's the boy who lived. He defeated you-know-who as a baby" Jess said.
"Who's you-know-who?" Lyndsay asked.
Carlie rolled her eyes "For some reason the wizarding world has a problem with saying VOLDEMORT" Jess shivered.
"He was like the Hitler of the wizarding world, killed a bunch of people, was real evil but I can't remember I was like three when he was defeated but Harry Potter was about to get killed by him and the curse bounced back and killed Voldemort" Carlie explained.
"He didn't die" Marcus said quietly.
"What?" Carlie asked.
"Voldemort didn't die but he is very weak he's possessing a man name Squirrel I think" Marcus said.
"You don't mean Quirrel do you?" Jess asked.
"Yes" Marcus said.
"You mean to tell us that our professor is being possessed by the most evil wizard of all time?" Carlie asked.
"Sit down; I have to explain something to you all" Marcus said.
"You are all aware that there is a prophecy about you correct?" Marcus asked. They nodded. "Well there is also a prophecy about Harry Potter defeating Voldemort too. While you are intertwined with it all, you can't interfere with it" Marcus said.
"What do mean intertwined with it?' Lyndsay said.
"Harry Potter is the reason the sorceresses circle formed" Marcus said.
"How do you figure that?' Jess asked "We haven't even met him."
"Sirius Black, Carlie's father was best friends with James Potter, Harry Potter's father and Peter Pettigrew. Pettigrew was a death eater and he kept feeding Voldemort information about where the Potters were. So they did a charm that makes their house untraceable, I can't remember the name of it but it requires a secret keeper, the person who knows where they are. So the only way that they can be found is that the secret keeper tells someone where they are. Well Sirius was going to be but they changed at the last minute for some reason and Pettigrew was the new secret keeper. Pettigrew told Voldemort and Voldemort went to the house and met his downfall."
"What does it have to do with us meeting?" Nathan asked.
"I'm getting there" Marcus said.
"So Pettigrew ran and Sirius caught up with him and Pettigrew put his wand behind his back and blew up the whole street and Sirius got the blame and he was sent to Azkaban."
"So you knew he was innocent! Why didn't you tell us? It could have saved us tons of time" Carlie exclaimed.
"You didn't ask, I'm not always up to date with everything you're doing, I'm busy protecting you from demons and other things" Marcus said.
"But what does that have to do with us?" Lyndsay asked.
"Miranda fled the wizarding world and brought Carlie up in the muggle world and--"
"I met Lyndsay and Nathan" Carlie said.
Marcus nodded "the reason the prophecy hadn't been fulfilled for a long time because it is very rare for wizards to mix with muggles even rarer for purebloods. So the chances of two muggles and two pure bloods coming together as friends was going to take a lot of events to make it happen. Carlie, while it was an injustice for your father to be thrown in Azkaban for something he didn't do. I was irreversible. It was an act of fate."
"An act of fate?" Jess asked snickering.
"Yes it was Jess, you may not believe fully in fate and other things like that but in time you will" Marcus said.
"Okay thanks for telling us about that but we have to find out how to find Pettigrew and we have to warn the teachers that Professor Quirrel is being possessed by Voldemort" Jess shivered at the name.
"NO! That's what I am getting to, while you are intertwined with it all, you can't interfere with it. Anything to do with Voldemort you cannot interfere with" Marcus said.
"Why?" Jess asked.
Marcus sighed "You are two different prophecies; Harry Potter is the one to stop Voldemort not you, you cannot involve yourself with it. That means no revealing Quirrel and I'm sorry Carlie but you can't find Pettigrew."
"What happens if we do interfere?" Lyndsay asked.
"The higher powers will do something to you, don't ask me what they are because I'm not sure" Marcus explained.
"So I can't do anything to help him?" Carlie asked.
Marcus shook his head "Sorry."
"What about Quirrel? How are we supposed to sit through his classes knowing he's possessed?" Jess asked.
"You're just going to have to put up with it" Marcus said.
"Easy for you to say" Jess grumbled.
"Anyway have any of you been approached by anyone weird yet?" Marcus asked.
"No" Lyndsay said.
"Just remember what I told you to be wary of new people" Marcus said.
"You should tell him" Lyndsay said as they sat in the park. They'd decided to go back to the place they originally met when they first formed their powers since Marcus was at the house.
"But Marcus said we weren't supposed to tell anyone" Nathan said.
"But Sirius is in Azkaban, who's he gonna tell?" Jess said.
"Isn't it a bit unfair, I mean, Sirius knows but mum doesn't" Carlie said.
"Carlie I have a feeling that Miranda will find out soon" Lyndsay said.
"Let me guess, a seer thing right?" Jess remarked.
Lyndsay glared at Jess before saying "No it's just a gut feeling."
"Whatever. I'm out of here, I've got an essay due tomorrow" Jess stood up and orbed.
"I'm gonna tell him" Carlie said.
"Good for you! Do you need some help writing cause I wrote most of the letter to Sirius for your birthday" Lyndsay said.
"Well I know when I'm not wanted" Nathan said standing up.
"Oh no Nathan! I didn't mean it like that!" Lyndsay said.
"It alright Lynds, you guys can do it, I've gotta go home, I might see my parents for once" Both Lyndsay and Carlie noticed the hint of resentment in his voice.
"See you later" He said orbing.
"I feel so sorry for him sometimes, his parents are never home" Lyndsay said.
"Um Lyndsay how are we supposed to write a letter with no paper?" Carlie asked.
Lyndsay smiled and clicked her fingers, a few pieces of paper and a pen landed in Carlie's lap. Carlie looked impressed.
"It's a little thing I learnt when I was reading, basic magic" Lyndsay said.
"God Lynds! How many magic books have you read?" Carlie asked.
"Well let's see, I could almost write a PHD on potions, I'm up to terms with summoning small things, like the paper, I can't do a couch like Marcus can, I'm able to levitate myself" Lyndsay's sitting form rose a few feet in the air then landed softly on the grass "I've read all the stuff they have about seers and I can use my eyes like telescopes, Marcus says with a bit of practice, I'll be able to see through walls."
Carlie raised her eyebrows "Do you talk to Marcus by yourself a lot?"
"Whenever I'm bored I go over to the house and read up on some books and try to teach myself things, Marcus sometimes drops in to say hi."
"Drop in, Lynds, it's his house!" Carlie exclaimed.
"I don't think he lives there, I think it's a house for us, you know so we can go and not get caught together" Lyndsay explained.
"Oh right, maybe I should drop over there sometime" Carlie said, chewing on the end of the pen.
"You should, you get more powerful. Nathan does it as well, he goes over their more than me but he swims in the pool more than reading" Lyndsay said.
"Anyway what are we going to write?" Carlie said.
"Okay dear um...what do you call him, Dad, Sirius, Mr. Black or what?" Lyndsay asked.
"He called himself Dad but I don't think I can call him that, maybe Sirius" Carlie said.
"Righty-o then, you tell him why you're calling him that though."
"Okay" Carlie scribbled a few sentences down before looking at Lyndsay again.
"What now?"
"How about, I believe your innocent and I'd try and free you but there are complications" Lyndsay suggested
"You haven't been reading the dictionary have you Lyndsay?" Carlie asked as she wrote it down.
"And start explaining about the Sorceresses Circle and the element and Marcus and all that" Lyndsay said.
After a while Carlie finished writing and passed the letter to Lyndsay. Lyndsay read it and nodded her approval.
"He wanted to know more about me" Carlie said, "Do you think I should write more?"
Lyndsay shook her head "Let him absorb it first then talk to him about your life later."
They were silent for a while and then Lyndsay piped up "Hey Carlie! I had the best idea! Since we can't free Sirius and you can't interfere, maybe we could go see him!"
"You mean orb to Azkaban?" Carlie asked.
"Yeah! We won't 'interfere' as Marcus said but we'll just see him" Lyndsay said.
"What do you mean we?" Carlie asked.
"Oh I meant just you I was just saying---"
"No I was meaning do you mean we - as in Nathan, Jess, me and you or just me and you" Carlie said
"I'm not sure."
"Well you'd have to be there. You're my best friend" Carlie said "I couldn't do it alone."
Lyndsay smiled "I would be honored"
After orbing back to Hogwarts and sending the letter to Sirius, Carlie came back to Gryffindor tower and realized, that both Jess and her had the same assignment.
"Shit" She cursed to herself.
"You should really watch your language Carlie" A voice said from behind her.
Carlie turned around and saw Fred and George sitting by the fireplace with books, parchment and quills on the floor.
"Hey guys, leaving thing to the last minute again?" Carlie asked, "God I'm such a hypocrite" She thought
"And you didn't?" Fred asked.
"Busted" A little voice said in her mind "No, why would I do that?" Carlie said slyly.
"Let's see because you always do and lately you've been forgetting about assignments and homework" George said
"I've just been ---preoccupied with---stuff" Carlie said defensively.
"What stuff? What could you possibly have to do other than pranking, hanging out with us and school?" Fred asked.
"Just---stuff you wouldn't understand" Carlie said.
"Why? What wouldn't we understand?" George asked, the two of them getting up.
"It's---just stuff okay guys" Carlie said, trying to calm herself down. It was one of her more, unpleasant traits; she was very quick to anger. She wasn't even looking at the twins. She made sure, just in case she lost her temper, she didn't want Fred and George barbequed.
"Come on Carlie, we know your hiding something" Fred crossed his arms.
Carlie could feel her anger burning up.
Don't look at them. Don't look at them or they'll fry. She repeated to herself.
"I'm not hiding anything."
"Look Carlie, does this have anything to do with that letter you got on your birthday?" George asked.
BINGO! That would be the perfect excuse. Carlie fake a sigh and nodded.
"So who is it from?" Fred persisted.
"My Dad" Carlie said.
Fred and George looked surprised, "So you've been preoccupied because you were trying to contact him?"
"Yes and I've been a little emotional" Carlie said. It was true, to an extent, the letter was from her dad and she had been a little emotional about it.
"Oh, we're sorry, so have you actually done the essay?" Fred asked.
Carlie was about to say no when she had an idea. "Yes, I did it this afternoon."
"Oh well can you help us?" George asked.
"No, I'm tired so I'm heading off to bed, Night guys" Carlie began to walk up the stairs.
"Night" they called back.
As soon as Carlie got into the dormitories she sat on her bed and tried to contact Lyndsay.
/Hey Lyndsay/
/Yeah/ Lyndsay's voice answered.
/You wouldn't happen to know a spell that does my essay for me would you/ Carlie asked.
/Sure, the self writing spell, real useful in tests and if you've left your assignment to the last minute/ Lyndsay answered.
/well could you tell it to me/ Carlie asked.
/Okay get a pen or a quill or whatever and put your hand over it and say write for me and then tell it what you want/
/That's it/ Carlie asked
/Yup, did it for my English assignment/ Lyndsay answered
/okay thanks dude, see you tomorrow/ Carlie said
Carlie opened her side table draw and got a quill, then picked up some parchment. Doing exactly what Lyndsay said, Carlie put her hand over it and whispered
"Write for me, a three foot long essay about mandrakes"
The quill glowed a yellowish glow and then sprung to life and began scribbling away on the parchment. Carlie placed it on her side table and yawned. She felt tired, settling down into bed she took one last look at the quill and went to sleep.
Ebony, Carlie's owl had just arrived on the little island that held the fortress of Azkaban. It had its instructions; do not leave until you have a reply. Sailing down, it landed on the opening that was supposed to be a window. Giving a hoot, the scruffy looking prisoner stood up and carefully removed the letter it had tied to its foot.
Sirius sat down while the owl waited and opened the letter. He was surprised that Carlie was writing back at all, he couldn't believe that he believed her.
Dear Sirius,
Is it okay to call you that? Dad just doesn't feel right. I can call you Mr. Black if you want. Anyway, I believe your innocent and I'd try and free you but there are complications. Now I am going to try to explain but it's going to be difficult. I don't know if you've ever heard about the prophecy of The Sorceresses Circle but I will try to explain. The elements, Wind, Water, Earth and Fire came together to form an ancient magical bond known as The Sorceresses Circle. It was decided that there would be mortal heirs to them and that two would be pure bloods and two would be muggles. Together they would inherit the powers of the elements. For most of my life I have lived as a muggle, not knowing about magic until two years ago I was giving my Hogwarts letter. I went to Hogwarts and befriended a few people; one of them was Jess Mcairn. (Yes he's the same Jess who wrote to you) Jess and my friendship was kept a secret because he's a Slytherin and I'm a Gryffindor, I'm practically a mudblood, he's supposed to be evil and the list goes on. Jess is actually a nice guy and is burdened by his family name. So In the summers between first and second year I invited him over to my house to meet my muggle friends and be himself but when he met Lyndsay and Nathan, we all passed out and weird things began to happen. To cut a long story short, we found out that we were the heirs to the elements, and together we formed The Sorceresses Circle. For about a year now we've been adjusting to our newfound powers and we have a guardian who's supposed to guide us. His name is Marcus and he helps us with our powers. We were planning to find Pettigrew when Lyndsay found out you were innocent. She's a seer and she used her powers to re-live the memory and she saw what Pettigrew did. We were all set to set you free when Marcus laid a bombshell on us. We can't interfere with anything that has to do with Voldemort, it's not our destiny to stop him or get involved. So that is why I can't set you free. You can't tell anyone about this, Marcus told us no one is supposed to know yet but as Jess said, who are you going to tell? I wanna write more but Lyndsay says I should let this all sink in so, if your mad and don't want to talk to me I understand, I'd be pissed too.
From Carlie
Sirius had to read the letter twice to let it sink in. An heir to the element, The Sorceresses Circle, powers and wait...she'd said that she'd lived as a muggle. He wanted to know more about this. She was friends with Jess Mcairn, Isaiah Mcairn and Andrea Malfoy's son. Andrea was Lucius's sister; there whole family was practically evil. Burdened by his family name, it sounded so much like him. He hadn't expected Carlie to believe him or try to free him; he hadn't even expected her to write back. So picking up the pen that Jess had sent him, he began to write back. He found that pens were much easier to write with than quills. He was very curious why Carlie had never known about magic until she got her Hogwarts letter. He truly hoped Miranda hadn't done anything to drastic when he was taken to Azkaban.