Quoth the Raven "Nevermore."
First and Only Chapter: Memories.
His cries filled the room that night. There was really nothing she could do, right? The Dark Lord wanted her to kill him… it was her obligation as his loyal servant… right? But Bret was her brother… her own flesh and blood… 'But he betrayed us. It's his falt he was condemned to death.'
'But you don't have to kill him.' A persistant voice rang through her thoughts. 'He deserves it… I'm just following my orders, I don't want to die.' Castis braced herself as she heard another hallow scream from her brother, they were torturing him before the big finish… when his selfish sister would take a dagger and plunge it through his heart.
"Castis!" She violently wiped the tears from her eyes, there was no stopping now. She lifted her head high and slowly made her way to the front where her brother lay. His body was covered in deep wounds and hardly formed bruises.
"The stage is all yours." The Dark Lord walked off the stage in such elegance Castis felt rejuvenated, like there was nothing wrong with killing Bret. He looked up at her with pleading eyes… they begged her to make it quick and painless. She couldn't do that, it wouldn't be a show without pain and heartless, brutal killing.
"No don't kill him… don't!" Castis rolled around in her bed trying to fight off the memories, the gilt, and the pain. She tossed and turned begging her past self to stop and think about what she was doing.
"Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary,
Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore,
While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,
As of someone gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.
" 'Tis some visitor," I muttered, "tapping at my chamber door;
Only this, and nothing more."" Castis began to circle him, her voice low and killed with venom. She slowly took out her dagger and started to sharpen it. Bret knew there was a poison that covered the blade… he had brewed.
"Castis think about what you're doing…" He whispered trying to reason with her. She took the dagger in her right hand and ran it down his cheek, it was so sharp it cut through his skin like softened butter. The blood flowed smoothly down to the floor were a puddle was starting to grow.
"NO! Bret!!" Castis tried to awaken herself but it was as though there was a spell upon her, begging and pleading for her to watch this selfish act that she had preformed for the simple reason… she was scared.
"Ah, distinctly I remember, it was in the bleak December,
And each separate dying ember wrought its ghost upon the floor.
Eagerly I wished the morrow; vainly I had sought to borrow
From my books surcease of sorrow, sorrow for the lost Lenore,.
For the rare and radiant maiden whom the angels name Lenore,
Nameless here forevermore.
And the silken sad uncertain rustling of each purple curtain
Thrilled me---filled me with fantastic terrors never felt before;
So that now, to still the beating of my heart, I stood repeating,
" 'Tis some visitor entreating entrance at my chamber door,
Some late visitor entreating entrance at my chamber door.
This it is, and nothing more."" Bret laid there listening to his sister. He had given up fighting with her, Voldemort has taken her over, possessed her with all the hatred and anger Bret himself had once felt. 'You don't have to do this..' He thought weakly, the poison was flowing freely through his bloodstream, somehow he felt it.
Castis smirked and continued to circle him, she would rest the tip of the blade on his flesh but would keep walking allowing the tip to sink its poisoned teeth into Bret.
"Presently my soul grew stronger; hesitating then no longer,
"Sir," said I, "or madam, truly your forgiveness I implore;
But the fact is, I was napping, and so gently you came rapping,
And so faintly you came tapping, tapping at my chamber door,
That I scarce was sure I heard you." Here I opened wide the door;---
Darkness there, and nothing more.
Deep into the darkness peering, long I stood there, wondering, fearing
Doubting, dreaming dreams no mortals ever dared to dream before;
But the silence was unbroken, and the stillness gave no token,
And the only word there spoken was the whispered word,
Lenore?, This I whispered, and an echo murmured back the word,
"Lenore!" Merely this, and nothing more.
Back into the chamber turning, all my soul within me burning,
Soon again I heard a tapping, something louder than before,
"Surely," said I, "surely, that is something at my window lattice.
Let me see, then, what thereat is, and this mystery explore.
Let my heart be still a moment, and this mystery explore.
" 'Tis the wind, and nothing more."" She wouldn't stop, no one could reason with her. Her mind was set on the task at hand not the emotions that it enveloped.
"NO! Stop! You don't know what you're doing Castis! You will ruin your life!" Castis thrashed violently in the bed, trying to escape this horrible reality that was nestled in her dreams.
"Open here I flung the shutter, when, with many a flirt and flutter,
In there stepped a stately raven, of the saintly days of yore.
Not the least obeisance made he; not a minute stopped or stayed he;
But with mien of lord or lady, perched above my chamber door.
Perched upon a bust of Pallas, just above my chamber door,
Perched, and sat, and nothing more.
Then this ebony bird beguiling my sad fancy into smiling,
By the grave and stern decorum of the countenance it wore,
"Though thy crest be shorn and shaven thou," I said, "art sure no craven,
Ghastly, grim, and ancient raven, wandering from the nightly shore.
Tell me what the lordly name is on the Night's Plutonian shore."
Quoth the raven, "Nevermore."
Much I marvelled this ungainly fowl to hear discourse so plainly,
Though its answer little meaning, little relevancy bore;
For we cannot help agreeing that no living human being
Ever yet was blessed with seeing bird above his chamber door,
Bird or beast upon the sculptured bust above his chamber door,
With such name as "Nevermore."" Castis gently ran the dagger across his neck, trying to scare Bret. His world was starting to go black from blood loss.
"Castis…" He whispered, 'please let her come to her senses.' She wouldn't stop circling and reciting that deadly poem. Bret knew his fate, at the end he would die… but he would never let his sister forget what she had done to him… never. The cheers from the Deatheaters seemed so faint and nonexistent.
"But the raven, sitting lonely on that placid bust, spoke only
That one word, as if his soul in that one word he did outpour.
Nothing further then he uttered; not a feather then he fluttered;
Till I scarcely more than muttered, "Other friends have flown before;
On the morrow he will leave me, as my hopes have flown before."
Then the bird said, "Nevermore."
Startled at the stillness broken by reply so aptly spoken,
"Doubtless," said I, "what it utters is its only stock and store,
Caught from some unhappy master, whom unmerciful disaster
Followed fast and followed faster, till his songs one burden bore,---
Till the dirges of his hope that melancholy burden bore
Of "Never---nevermore."
But the raven still beguiling all my sad soul into smiling,
Straight I wheeled a cushioned seat in front of bird, and bust and door;
Then, upon the velvet sinking, I betook myself to linking
Fancy unto fancy, thinking what this ominous bird of yore --
What this grim, ungainly, ghastly, gaunt and ominous bird of yore
Meant in croaking "Nevermore."
Thus I sat engaged in guessing, but no syllable expressing
To the fowl, whose fiery eyes now burned into my bosom's core;
This and more I sat divining, with my head at ease reclining
On the cushion's velvet lining that the lamplight gloated o'er,
But whose velvet violet lining with the lamplight gloating o'er
She shall press, ah, nevermore!"
Severus heard the pain filled cries of a woman and ran to them, he opened the door to unveil Castis and her horrific dream. He knew he couldn't wake her, he had to let the dream unfold. Severus remembered the death of Bret… one of the cruelest and slowest deaths he would probably experience. He turned on his heal, left the room and shut the door. He slowly took out his wand and placed a silencing charm over the room… no one should hear her screams… except her brother.
"Then, methought, the air grew denser, perfumed from an unseen censer
Swung by seraphim whose footfalls tinkled on the tufted floor.
"Wretch," I cried, "thy God hath lent thee -- by these angels he hath
Sent thee respite---respite and nepenthe from thy memories of Lenore!
Quaff, O quaff this kind nepenthe, and forget this lost Lenore!"
Quoth the raven, "Nevermore!"
"Prophet!" said I, "thing of evil!--prophet still, if bird or devil!
Whether tempter sent, or whether tempest tossed thee here ashore,
Desolate, yet all undaunted, on this desert land enchanted--
On this home by horror haunted--tell me truly, I implore:
Is there--is there balm in Gilead?--tell me--tell me I implore!"
Quoth the raven, "Nevermore."
"Prophet!" said I, "thing of evil--prophet still, if bird or devil!
By that heaven that bends above us--by that God we both adore--
Tell this soul with sorrow laden, if, within the distant Aidenn,
It shall clasp a sainted maiden, whom the angels name Lenore---
Clasp a rare and radiant maiden, whom the angels name Lenore?
Quoth the raven, "Nevermore."
"Be that word our sign of parting, bird or fiend!" I shrieked, upstarting--
"Get thee back into the tempest and the Night's Plutonian shore!
Leave no black plume as a token of that lie thy soul hath spoken!
Leave my loneliness unbroken! -- quit the bust above my door!
Take thy beak from out my heart, and take thy form from off my door!"
Quoth the raven, "Nevermore."
And the raven, never flitting, still is sitting, still is sitting
On the pallid bust of Pallas just above my chamber door;
And his eyes have all the seeming of a demon's that is dreaming.
And the lamplight o'er him streaming throws his shadow on the floor;
And my soul from out that shadow that lies floating on the floor
Shall be lifted---" She paused and raised the dagger pointed at his heart, the room fell silent, Bret stared up at her with such hatred and coldness it only willed her to fulfill her duty.
"Nevermore!" The dagger sailed into his heart and a cheer emitted from the crowd. Castis fell to her knees exhausted, and now fully aware of what she had just done…
"Bret.." She whispered to herself… her only brother. The only thing she had close to a father was now laying dead in front of her… by her own doing. She coughed violently and blood slid down to her chin.
"I…" She couldn't apologize. Castis placed the dagger in her robes, stood up, and made her escape.
Severus stood there and watched the girl fleeing… she would get what she deserved. He made his way to the bloody heap that use to be known as Bret Priseton… a loyal death eater and a true friend. Severus glanced bitterly at the door in which Castis had run out. He would make sure Bret received a proper burial… though he would have to figure out an excuse other then the Priseton's only son had been brutally murdered by their only daughter.
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Castis woke up in a cold sweat… that dream has been so… heartbreaking. She stood up from her bed and ran to her wardrobe. She threw random pieces of clothes as she frantically looked for her dagger. Upon finding it she threw on a robe and ran out the door.
"I will do you right by darling brother." She whispered to herself as she ran to the cemetery. Castis gazed at her brother headstone… there it was in all its marble glory. She kneel in front of it and started to recite the Raven once more. Tears streamed down her face as she ran the dagger down her wrists and arms allowing blood to pour over the grave.
Finally she reached the end… she croaked out the last word and once again plunged the dagger into someone's heart… her own heart…
(THE END!!!! It came from a dream.. I was bored and decided to write it LOL!!! )