A/N Well first of all I must apologize about not posting this at the same time as HP and the SSV. Cass sent me the email with it attached but I didn't save it, having a blonde moment despite the fact that I am in no way blonde. I realize that this chapter is boring towards the middle but it gets better and the plot really begins. Enjoy!
Disclaimer: Insert standard one here.
Looking In
Rated PG-13
By: Handsofftheshinyshirtitsmime
Co Author: Cassie aka cumbacksirius
Chapter 5
"Oh God…" Dee hissed, leaping from the bed and going to the deer, which was drawing in a ragged, painful breaths.
"What?" Cassie inquired from a safe distance away. "What's wrong?" Dee failed to respond as she unthinkingly took the suffering animal in her arms, and Cassie watched as Dee began to cry into the animals' fur, her hand stroking its heaving side. "It's going to happen again." Cassie mouthed, hearing her friend begin to speak in Latin, just as she had.
Cassie continued to watch, frightened, but unable to turn away from the sight. Dee's Latin was not a chant, as hers had been, but rather, a song that undulated and echoed through the cave. Her eyes were closed, tears falling into the deer's hide, as her hands rose and feel with each of the animal's breaths. Each of which was steadier than the one that came before it.
Dee's eyes fluttered open, an unnatural crystal blue color tinting them, and she lifted the deer's head to look into its eyes, her Latin stopping abruptly. Cassie's eyebrows furrowed over her nose, but she was still and silent. As suddenly as the deer has collapsed into the cave, it leapt to its feet and bounded back outdoors. Now Cassie spoke.
"Umm, Dee…" she whispered, stepping forward towards her friend, who sat motionless on the cave floor. "Dee…" she laid a hand on the other girls thin shoulder. Dee jumped.
"Oh my! Cass, don't do that!" Dee scolded, her head whirling about to look into Cassie's face.
"Sorry," Cassie mumbled. Dee smiled, and she patted the stone floor beside her. "Its alright. C'mon, sit down," she said. Cassie noted a streak of blood running down the side of Dee's face, and wiped it off as she sat. She noted that Dee's eyes had regained their natural shade of blue, and that her friend acted as though nothing had happened.
"Dee, you just healed that deer. Like I healed you, you know?"
"I know that I did." Dee responded softly, and she looked out the cave door, silent and thoughtful. Cassie frowned.
"How do you think we do this?" She wondered aloud, not entirely expecting an answer.
"I don't know, but it first started when I read that book" Cassie murmured.
Dee looked at her, surprised, and grinned as though she had thought of something. "Maybe the answer is in the book," the bookworm blurted out. Dee, however, didn't get a chance to look at the book as Ron appeared through the entrance, closely followed by Harry and Hermione.
"What happened?" Ron asked, noting the blood on Dee's shirt. Dee searched for an answer without telling them exactly what happened. "Uh…" she stuttered.
"Its paint!" Cassie thought out loud, her eyes widening. The trio looked at the girls, confused.
"Uh, yeah, I was painting in a sketch book that I bought and it got all over me," Dee hoped they wouldn't see through her lie, and she flashed them a wavering smile.
"It looks like blood to me," Hermione murmured, but no one other than Dee heard her. Dee laughed nervously. Luckily, in a matter of moments, the whole issue was forgotten.
"Don't you have classes?" Cassie asked, while talking a bite of the food that she just snatched from Harry.
"It's lunch time up at the castle," Hermione replied simply.
"Oh," Cassie responded, feeling a bit stupid for not having a watch or a way to tell the time.
"I guess after her nap she lost track of time," Dee commented, noting her discomfort. Everything fell silent for a few long moments, before Hermione said, "I'm heading back so that I'm not late"
"Bye" Cassie chirped. Hermione waved over her shoulder as Cassie turned her attentions back to Harry and Ron. "What about you?" Dee inquired, a bit more harshly than she had intended.
"Lunch isn't over for another 20 minutes," Harry answered simply. Dee nodded as Cassie stared at her, wondering what seemed to be wrong.
"You look exhausted," Ron informed Dee. She blinked a few times and sighed, but shook her head, "Maybe just a little." Cassie laughed, causing Dee to look in her direction, only to see her talking with Harry. He, too, was laughing.
"What's so funny?" she wondered aloud, feeling self -conscious.
"Oh nothing," Cassie replied with a little wave of her hand. Ron then looked at his watch, "Bloody hell Harry, we're going to be late!" Harry scrambled to his feet and followed Ron out of the cave, neither bothering to wave.
"Well, that was a rather dull and uncomfortable visit, n'est pas?" Dee remarked, mingling French into her English as she had a way of doing. Cassie noted this and tossed Dee a light scowl.
"Dee, you're doing it again." She warned. Dee grinned.
"Sorry, sometimes it just happens." Came her simple response, as she sniffed a large biscuit and then nibbled on it casually. Cassie rolled her eyes and gave up for what seemed to her the millionth time in the past two days. "You know, if the answer could be somewhere in that book, we really should stop shoving it underneath the bed and read it already." Dee mused as she finished chewing on a bite of biscuit.
"Yeah, I guess." Cassie conceded, making her way to the plush feather bed, underneath which she had stashed the eerie book. "But remember that reading it was YOUR idea!" She crouched down and reached for the book frantically.
"Why would I ever deny wanting to read?" Dee laughed, striding over to Cassie and talking the book, from her hands the instant she lifted it. "Anyway, we really need a reason for these 'healing' incident." With that, she settled herself down on the bed and once again opened the aged volume. Cassie, too, sat down, looking over Dee's shoulder.
Again, the Latin flowing across the worn, yellow pages, translated itself instantly as it reached the girls.
'FROM TIME IMMEMORABLE TO TIME CURRENT HAS PASSED ON THE PROPHECIES. Some came to pass, as others are forgotten and never come to light. Among these ancient and long lost tales of the Deux Jeune Filles, the two young healers who must be together to perform their world saving feats. You, who read this page, be aware! The text on these pages had been written only for the eyes of the Deux Jeune Filles, and only they may see this true message. Ponder, if you will, what this means for you, Denise and Cassandra, as you read these words…' The two girls looked at one another, startled.
"Umm…" Cassie fumbled for a word, and Dee cleared her throat nervously.
"Cass…" she muttered. "It says out names."
-----
His eyes opened slowly, the darkness that enveloped him pressing and invading from all sides.
"The Deux Jeune Filles…" he whispered, in a voice law and raspy from disuse.
-----
Cassie and Dee had long before put the book away and fallen into silent contemplation of its contents. Time passed, though they failed to notice. Dee chewed on the end of a pen that she had used to pull up her hair, which was now tumbling lazily down her back, and Cassie had buried her head in her pillows.
"Should we tell anyone about this? Ron or Harry… Hermione maybe?" Cassie asked. Dee bit the pen top hard enough to make it crack, and then whipped it away from her mouth just before it began to spray blue ink in all directions.
"No!" she wailed. Cassie looked over at her.
"No, we shouldn't tell them, or no, your pen just exploded?" She pressed.
"Both." Dee responded, chucking the pen away from her. "I mean, no, lets not say anything to the others, at least not just yet."
They might know about the prophecy of the Deux Jeune Filles, at least, Hermione might. But if they don't, we'll have to explain, and neither of us have a clue what the hell is going on." Dee climbed from her bed and began pawing through the food they had been given earlier, desperate for a piece of chocolate to help calm her nerves.
"Yeah, I guess that's probably a good idea." Cassie agreed. She noted the pile of chocolate frogs that Dee had uncovered and stuck out her lower lip until her friend tossed one to her.
"Stop that!" Dee scolded good-naturedly. Then she frowned. "Hey Cass…" She looked somberly at her friend, who was digging eagerly into her chocolate frog.
"Mmm…" Cassie swallowed. "What Dee?"
"What do you think they think happened to us at home?" Dee wondered.
