Lily and James walked down to the Great Hall together. He led her away from it all of a sudden and took her into a empty classroom. He looked serious. She knew what was coming.
"Lily will you go to the Masquerade Ball with me?"
"JāPotter? After all the times I said no you still...."
"So I guess that's a no?" asked James dissapointedly
"I'll consider it." Said Lily with a smile
"Really???" asked James grinning almost yelling in happiness
"Come on Potter let it out....nobody's here to hear it." Said Lily grinning
"YAHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO" yelled James
At the Great Hall Prof. Dumbledore had already announced the ball. Lexi grinned. She was ready. She was going to ask Sirius. She got up but then quickly sat down. She needed to plan a bit.
Lily must not have heard Tera because she entered a classroom with James shortly after. She shrugged and, having her question answered, she headed back for the Great Hall. She sat down at the Slytherin table but was, thankfully, not noticed. She slurped at some soup while listening to the announcement that Dumbledore had. Masquerade ball? Weird... wonder what I'm supposed to wear? Then she came up with an idea. She'd draw something!
Lexi walked aimlessly before the door. She was waiting.....waiting for the right moment. Just then Sirius walked out. He looked back and shrugged. She immediately bounded toward him.
"Hey Sirius?"
Sirius was stunned. Lexi had always called him Black.
"Yeah?"
"Wanna got to the Ball with me?"
Sirius was tired. Since Dumbledore had announced the ball he had been bombarded with invitations from his fan club. He sighed. He had like Lexi at one time but now....he liked Tera....no he loved her.
"Sorry Lex I....I am going with someone else."
"Please Sirius. I'm good looking you're good looking. We're gonna make a good couple."
It was as Lexi spoke those last words that Tera walked out. She heard them and made the wrong misconception. She yelled
"Sirius?!"
Sirius stopped mid sentence. He glimpsed Tera before she ran away. She yelled back at Lexi and Sirius
"How could you?
Sirius ran away from Lexi and chased Tera.
Tera felt annoyed... no hurt. Unless she'd been wrong. Maybe it'd been all a mistake. Maybe. But a part of her wanted to keep on running... and when she ran she ran fast and hard. She ran faster then any whip could ever push her to do and was soon out of Sirius's sight. She went down twisting halls and finally stopped when she reached the lake. She sat down at the edge and sighed. Part of her wanted to be wrong... wanted Sirius to find her. But another part wanted him away. Forever. She didn't know about forever... but for now would do. Then she felt the presense of someone behind her. She turned around.
"What do you want Lucious?" she asked. Her voice was easily readable and it was quite easy to understand that she wasn't so sure if she wanted him near or far.
"I wanted to ask you a question," he replied with the usual smirk on his face.
"Well..."
"Will you go to the ball with me?" Lucious asked. Tera debated. Then she decided an answer.
"I'm not going with anyone and it's going to stay that way. Maybe I'll dance there if we find eachother. But... I'm not going with anyone." This way she still had time to hear that she was wrong and Sirius hadn't asked Lexi. Although looking annoyed Lucious nodded agreeably. Good. She continued to sit at the edge of the lake and at the edge of her saneness. She was so confused and hurt that she just wanted to fall off of the edge into pleasant mentality.
Sirius raced after Tera. She was nowhere he could see. He didn't give up however. He pulled out the Marauders Map and said I solemnly swear I am up to no good. The words spread across it. He looked for Tera's name. He found it at last with another. Lucious Malfoy. He gritted his teeth. He strided toward the lake. He could see her clearly. She was crying. He walked up to her and crouched beside her.
"What do you want Sirius?" asked Tera without looking up. There was hurt in her voice
"I want to explain."
"Fine Black 2 minutes." Said Tera
Sirius cringed. She had called him Black. It hurt.
"Fine I walked out of the great hall and Lexi asked me to the ball. I said no. I said I was going with someone else.....you. She tried to convince me. You heard her last words." Sirius stopped and looked away. He sighed and said
"Tera you don't have to believe me. I'll.....I'll just go now." With that Sirius walked away. Toward the castle. Away from Tera
It hurt. He left and walked back to the castle. It hurt bad. Almost worst then... but she couldn't remember. It was as if the memory had left her. She thought hard. Brother... pain... torture... slowly some of it came back to her. What she'd been trying to think was that Sirius leaving her was almost worse then her brother torturing her. no... No this was much worse.... she corrected herself. Lonliness and sadness tore at her very being and she felt so helpless. It was as if her identity had walked away. A freezing cold came across her heart, hardening it. She never wanted to hurt herself again. Maybe the easiest way would be to not be any more. Not familiar with her magic because it had been so unused she fumbled with it. Finally she came up with the right cantation. The words rolled off her tongue and slowly she could feel the air being forced out of her, and she couldn't draw more into her lungs.
"TERA!" some one yelled. Her concentration broke. All that happened was that she fell into blackness.
Sirius looked back once just to see her. What he saw was he fall to the ground. He sprinted toward her. He had almost lost her already. He wasn't going to make that almost be just lost her. He ran to her body and looked at her. She wasn't breathing. He carried her and cried. It was the first time he had cried. 2 tears fell on her neck and though he didn't know it life bgan to seep into her body. Sirius stopped at the doors. He couldn't go any further. If she was going to die so was he. He fell to the ground just staring at her limp body. Someone walked out. It was Kal and Lily chatting happily on their way to the lake.
"SIRIUS! What happened?" called Lily rushing over.
Sirius couldn't answer. His throat was choked up. He thought Tera was going to die. He wanted to die too. His greif was so deep that something had happened. His muscles constricted under him and his back felt limp. He slumped over as Tera's eyes fluttered open.
When Tera opened her eyes she was greeted with the sight of Sirius slumped over. Oh no... she thought. She called up on her innate magic and touched his temples. She poured into him a stream of life, hopeing that he'd awaken. The life was coming from her and she was soon drained. She left just enough in her to live. Barely. Then lastly she put a hand under his shirt where his heart should be. She shocked him. She shocked him again. Finally she thought that she saw signs of life returning.
Lily started to panic. She ran around yelling "What do we do??" Kal was just watching with wide eyes. Finally she regained her senses and calmed down Lily.
"Ok Lils! Relax. We'll levitate them to the hospital wing."
Tera tried to get up but fell back. Before she hit the ground however Lily had already levitated her. Kal had leviated Sirius and was walking toward the castle. Lily moved Tera and they slowly proceeded toward the Hospital Wing. Dumbledore was already waiting there.
"What happened?" he asked sharply
"Tera will tell you when she can. We don't know."
Dumbledore merely nodded and quickly leviated Sirius and Tera higher and moved quickly toward the Hospital Wing. Sirius had awakened though his eyes had a slightly glazed look. When he saw Tera though his eyesight seemed to sharpen.
Tera felt so weak... maybe she'd drained herself a bit too much. Her eyes were half open and her voice wouldn't work. Well if everything went right at least Sirius should be O.K. Then she had an idea. She could get her energy back... but she'd need to be outside.
"Lily?" she whispered. Her voice barely worked. "I think that I can heal myself. I just need to be outside..." What she needed to do was be in contact with nature. Laying on the grass would do. Elves were naturally very close to the Earth and she knew that it'd give her some of it's energy and help heal her. From what you could see in her eye she was determined. "If you just put me on the grass it should be enough..." she tried to explain. Dumbledore didn't even know that she was part elf but she was sure that he'd figure it out. No one knew... but she needed to do this. She stared hard at Lily trying to convince her to do as she asked. "Please Lils," she begged. But Lily wasn't even looking directly at her eyes... Then Tera knew what had happened. When she had been levitated her hair had ceased to cover her face. Now it was as plain as day that she had one blind eye, hacked off eartips, and dozens of scars. Damn.... I never wanted them to see me this way...
Lily looked at Tera's face. She gasped. It was scars everywhere and the eye was milky white. One of her ears. She didn't want to think about it. Then she heard Tera say that she needed to be outside. She looked at Dumbledore to see if he had heard her. He showed signs of understanding and immediately turned around. The arrived at the grass and he set her down. Tera grasped a handful of grass. She quickly ground it and sprikled it ove rher. She slowly felt her health restoring. She was soon strong enough to walk. Dumbledore however did not allow it. He levitated her again. Lily and Kla walked at a slow pace. When they were sure Tera could not hear them they talked.
"What happened to her face?" whispered Kal
"No clue."
They continued to walk. Tera glanced at Sirius and was relieved to see him fully awake.
Tera felt frustrated. She could walk, in fact she was perfectly fine. Actually she felt even stonger then before. The grass looked slightly wilted where she'd been and she felt sad for it. She had taken away some of it's life for hers. She never felt good when she had to take something from another being. But she felt happy because she was well again and so was Sirius. At least, she hoped so. She really wished that her hair could've continued to cover the damage done to her by her brother, Tom. She steered her mind away from that. It was really too bad that they had to live at an orphanage... But one thing bugged her. Why couldn't she remember some of the more painful stuff he'd done to her though? It was as if she'd transferred the memory to some one else... Well in Divination she'd given James and Sirius more knowledge about Divination... could she have accidently given one of them a part of her memories?
