Thanks for your reviews as ever. My other story 'Tonight's the Night' has reached the steamy bit, if you're interested(!)
CHAPTER TEN
THE CRONE
Andi woke the following morning feeling fantastic.
She tried to remember what she'd been dreaming, but the more she chased the memory, the further away it went. It must have been good - the bed covers were wrecked.
She felt wide awake and eager to get to work on the Concerto.
She would forego the morning walk, she decided. She'd go straight up to the first floor and throw open the French windows instead.
She was sad to see the sparkling white flowers hadn't survived the night; they lay drooped over the side of the glass, their sparkle gone.
Clutching her manuscript, she hurried up to the Entrance Hall and then up the armadillo staircase. She had Dumbledore's map with her. She always thought she could remember directions, but never did.
As she was half way up the staircase, there was a terrific moan and the steps below her feet began to shudder. She clutched the handrail.
This couldn't be good...
Eyes darting everywhere, she gave a cry as she realised the staircase was moving, swinging around like a very slow fairground ride. The top swung across the stairwell and round to the other side, joining up with the landing on the right.
She stood stock still.
She could go up, she could go down; but she was damned if she was going back down stairs to ask for Snape's help.
Slowly, shakily, she made her way to the top and looked across to where she was meant to be. Now she didn't have a map. How was she supposed to find the room?
She decided the best way was to walk in a straight line and turn left somewhere, but it seemed to bring her out somewhere totally different.
Completely lost now, she just wandered in the hope of stumbling across something familiar.
"Ah, child, you are lost."
Andi jumped out of her skin at the hard, rasping voice. She looked around and saw an oil painting of a very old woman seated at a round table. The table was covered in a silver cloth with a gold fringe. It stood out as a beautiful eye-catching object in a painting that was otherwise dark and drab. Laid out on top of the cloth was, what looked like playing cards.
"Yes...I am lost. I need to get to..."
"Tarry a while. I am the Crone...the Wise Woman. Come, hold your hand to my eyes I shall tell you what I see."
"Oh, I don't think..."
"I think you may."
There was something in the old woman's tone that made Andi stop and look.
"O-Kay." She held her hand up as directed.
"Ah!" exclaimed the woman almost immediately. "A female dynasty. You bare the family name of your mother and her mother before her."
Andi gulped.
"Yes I do. Carver was my grandmother's name."
"They were free spirits. I see no wedding ring on either."
"No," she said, quietly.
"You are ashamed of your mother, I see."
Andi swallowed. She had no hang-ups that her parents had not been married, but being the result of a drunken quickie behind the local cinema with a stranger had never sat easy with her.
"She abandoned me," replied Andi.
"And so you replace her with your music. Who is Josephine?"
"My grandmother."
"You loved her dearly."
"Yes," Andi whispered.
"And yet she, too, bore your mother out of wedlock. But I detect no shame of her..."
"That was different. My grandmother was in love. My mother didn't even know my father's name."
"Your mother was conceived here."
"Yes. In Scotland. My grandmother was on holiday."
The Crone's eyes twinkled as she took her eyes from Andi's face to her palm again.
"Who is Alice?"
"I don't know anyone called Alice."
"Alice is very important. She brings a question you want answered. In the fullness of the moon she carries Ansuz the messenger rune and your question will be answered. She brings you clarity. She will bring a sign that you are to trust your intuition. You must expect the unexpected, child."
Expect the unexpected? In this place? Is she kidding? I've all ready given a Tea Dance for ghosts and had a ride on a moving staircase...
"One last thing." If a two-dimensional person could lean closer, the Crone did. "I detect something about you, child. Something building up inside...why am I seeing flowers?"
"I don't know. I picked some last night," she offered. "They were dead this morning, though."
The Crone studied her eagerly.
"What kind of flowers?"
"Tiny white ones. They sparkled and had a strong perfume."
"Nox Adamus. Night Diamond. A powerful ingredient in many potions. You brought them to your chambers?"
"Yes. Shouldn't I have?" Andi felt anxious. She had just thought they were pretty, that's all.
"That depends on many things within the moon's cycle." The old lady yawned a great cavernous yawn and smacked her lips. "That is all I can tell you, I am weary. I see no more. Watch for the sign and expect the unexpected, child."
And she fell asleep.
Andi stood there, astounded. How could she fall asleep now? Andi had so many questions...
She waited in front of the painting, wondering, hoping the Crone would wake up, but she didn't. She slumbered peacefully.
Slowly Andi wandered along the corridor, her mind buzzing with all the things the Crone had said.
She didn't know anyone called Alice. How could Alice be important? How could she bring an answer to a question Andi hadn't even asked? And what was up with Night Diamond for goodness sake? All she'd done was pick some.
She then remembered she was lost.
A familiar feeling of panic began to swirl around in her stomach; a feeling she always got when she became lost.
She walked along corridor after corridor. Nothing looked familiar. Occasionally she stopped to ask someone in a portrait whether they knew the music room, but no...
Where the hell was she?
The panic grew. She began running down the corridors, looking left and right as she came to corridors leading off. She turned corners, hoping there would be a staircase or something to indicate the way, but the only staircase she saw went up.
She began to perspire.
Suppose she was lost all day, perhaps all night. Suppose not all the ghosts in the castle were nice like the ones yesterday? Hadn't Snape mentioned a poltergeist yesterday? Would she have to sleep in the corridor?
Her mind was crowded with panic...and Night Diamond and the Crone and expecting the unexpected...
She turned a corner and screamed as she ran full pelt into Snape.
"Oh! Oh! Thank God!" She was so relieved she actually made as if to hug him. He stepped back out of her reach and she pulled her arms back just as quickly. "I'm lost. I haven't got a bloody clue where I am..."
"I assumed as much. This way..."
She followed him down yet more corridors, some she vaguely recognised as ones she'd all ready been down, and then she saw the painting of the milkmaid and knew she was almost there.
They stopped outside the green door. She opened it and looked in with relief.
She turned to him.
"Thank you," she said, sincerely. "The staircase moved...I've had a really weird morning and I..." but she saw the look on his face. "I'm sorry. I won't hold you up any longer."
"I shall return at six o'clock to collect you. Otherwise, left to your own devices, I fear we shall be dining at midnight." He gave a curt nod of dismissal, and left.