Of course, the editing on this is shit as well. Argh, bad me! Slap my wrist. Go ahead. Do it.
More Damned Than We
Go East.
Stop at the spring, turn north.
Walk between the two sparkling rocks.
And then you will come to the tree.
.x.
It is an impulse, among many life forms, to own things. Whether that be your mate, your clothes, your digital watch… there is a driving need to call something your own. Even some of the supposedly unintelligent life forms - wolves, lions, monkeys - have taken on the view of ownership in the form of territory.
Sometimes territories overlapped, or were within another territory, or something like that. Severus knew as he moved that he was crossing through several territories, which meant that he was angering many creatures as he did so. But he was a wizard - a clever one, at that - and it was doubtful that anything would attack him if he showed no threat.
There were always the chosen few, however.
Severus could sense the creature as he fought through the brambles, the directions he had been given having taken him off the path long ago. There were too many movements at the corner of his eye, too much silence behind him. It was following him, stealthily. But Severus had been a Death Eater, and few could sneak up on any of them. For one, they were trained for stealth. Secondly, they were highly paranoid, and were always under the impression of being stalked.
He clenched the bundle of thorn, ash and oak in one hand, using the knife in his other to hack his way through like a darker, sicklier version of Indiana Jones. The knife he used was a large bladed item with a bone handle, and was his personal ceremonial knife that had been made for him by Lucius. Usually he would not have used the knife in such an undignified way, but the direction he was taking was hampered by over a decade's worth of vegetation that felt it was its duty to halt his progress. Severus was respectful of magic and tradition, but he was also logical.
The light was falling faster now, so that Severus had to pause for a moment and, keeping a careful eye on his surroundings, attempt to magically alter his eyesight. It took only a few seconds, since it was a spell Severus had often used throughout his life - his lifestyle demanded that movement at night was the smartest route to survival.
Now, Severus was unable to see as fully has he could have had there been daylight, but now his vision showed a landscape bathed in bright silver moonlight, which was better than the murky darkness of the forest.
He tucked his wand back into his robes and continued on, his knife glinting in the new light. The knife had a name, but Severus hadn't the urge to attempt to call up his memory now.
Behind him, the creature murmured.
.x.
Bellatrix was lost again, and she knew it wasn't her fault.
Her father, before he had died, had taught her how to use the sun to find direction. "We are in the northern hemisphere, Bella, which means that sunlight is angled northward from the south - the side of the sky that is darker on one side than the other side is north. The sun sets in the west, and rises in the east, and the quality of its light will tell you whether it is morning or afternoon. In the morning, the sun is in the east, and therefore also angled in the south; in the afternoon, it shines in the west. It's complicated, but you get the hang of it. Do you understand?"
She had.
It was the Forest playing with her, and she knew it. She knew all the tales of the faerie sprites, of Goodfellow and others, who played about with the paths and the trees and kept travellers lost forever in the woods.
She wasn't going in circles. She was going in a pentacle, most likely - far more amusing that way. She swore she was moving north, when, in reality, the forest was shifting, and altering her path.
Bastards, the lot of them.
But Bellatrix was a patient woman, in her own way. She had waited years for her Lord to save her from Azkaban, and a tricky forest with laughter hiding under every tree was not a strong enough test to break her patience.
She stopped beside a tree, which towered above her so high that looking at it made her dizzy, and sat down on the mossy roots. She tucked her feet into the skirt of her robes and looked around, frowning a little. She leaned back, expecting some twiggy, horrific arms to wrap themselves around her and strangle her like they did in old movies, but the tree didn't budge at all.
She was very aware of the shadows at the corner of her eye, and the way they moved beneath the stationary sun.
.x.
Severus was quiet.
His own breathing sounded loud to his ears as he leaned back against the tree, streaking moss across the back of his robes. He clenched his knife in one hand and his wand in the other; in his head were the dozens upon dozens of spells and attacks and defences that he could use and would probably, due to the irony of the world, not work.
Severus shifted a little, the sound loud in the silence of the forest at night. Ahead of him he could see a clearing through the gaps in the trees, where the glitter and flash of moonlight gave away the spring that was at its centre.
Unfortunately, there was something between him and that spring.
Worse, there were several somethings behind him, which meant running away like a scared little girl was entirely out of the question.
There was the crunch of dried leaves and the soft, wet sound of something sharp digging into loam. Severus tensed. If he could only locate whatever the hell was in front of him he could run for the spring, find the rocks, and then attempt a dash to the last step of his journey. That was, of course, with the hope that behind the thing in front of him there weren't any more.
Severus' grip tensed on the knife and something in his vision moved. There - a flicker of movement, to the right. He desperately hoped that was the only threat in front of him as he threw himself forward, sprinting through the tangled brush of the forest.
He could hear the others move too.
He stumbled and attempted to hop-skip over a fallen tree. He shot by the creature that had been blocking him from the clearing.
For a second he could sense it, smell the blood on its lips, feel the warmth of its body close to his, hear the breathing, stale and laboured and hungry…
And then he was into the clearing.
The grass was springy and lush under his feet. There was a sharp clack behind him, that of jaws snapping together inches from the back of his neck. The spring sparkled beautifully in the middle of the clearing, even without the added light of his magical vision. It was a dream, perfection in the midst of terror that made everything all the more frightening.
The creature, angry now, snorted through its nostrils and with the added courage of its fellows at its back crashed into Severus, sending them both to the grass. Severus shouted and attempted to get away, though he could feel sharp claws shredding at his robes with each movement, nearing his skin.
His mind snapped to attention and Severus kicked out, connecting with his assailant. Suddenly the talisman he had made from the fairy tree burned red hot in his sleeve where he had stuck it, and the creature let out a shriek and released him. He scrambled on all fours to the spring and threw himself into the water, hoping he was doing the smart thing.
He went under, deeper than he expected, though he soon found his footing. Once he had emerged, soaking wet, still gripping his wand and knife, he could see the creatures clustered at the edge of the clearing, bristling, angry, hungry.
"Yes, I thought so." Severus said grimly.
And he stood there staring levelly at them, up to his waist in holy water.
.x.
RODOLPHUS LESTRANGE: STATS
STATUS: DEAD
LOCATION OF BODY: LESTRANGE FAMILY TOMB, FRANCE
BIRTH DATE: 1956/10/11
DEATH DATE: 2002/04/18
GENDER: MALE
EYE COLOUR: BROWN
HAIR COLOUR: DARK BROWN
HEIGHT: 5'11 ½"
MARITAL STATUS: MARRIED (BELLATRIX BLACK)
DEFINING FEATURES: SCAR RUNNING BENEATH RIGHT UNDERARM TOWARDS THE BOTTOM CENTRE OF RIBCAGE. KNOTWORK TATTOO ON ANKLE.
FAMILY: SETH LESTRANGE (FATHER), ASTARTE LUROV (MOTHER), RABASTAN LESTRANGE (BROTHER), LAUREL LUROV (AUNT, GODMOTHER)
Taken from Chapter Eight: The Brother Grim of "The Death Eaters: An Investigative Study" by Anita and Derrick Rodriguez.
.x.
Their fur was long and dark, hanging from their hides, shaggy and fine. Their teeth were long as well, sharp and angled horrifically, moving past lips and jaws and sticking out from their mouths. Severus could see the glint of their eyes as they shuffled about the outer edge of the clearing, murmuring amidst themselves. Their attributes seemed to be an ugly mesh of bear and dog, though they were obviously quite intelligent.
They were not ugly, but they were not very nice to look at, either. They reminded Severus of something straight out of a Stephen King book.
Every now and then one of the creatures passed by the markers - two large stones, almost as high as Severus was tall, and studded with crystals that sparkled in the reflecting light of the pond. Roughly, upon each rock, was the crude carving of a bird - cranes, Severus correctly supposed. Between them ran a dirty path, worn down by countless feet, leading off into the darkness of the forest. That was the road he was supposed to take.
Unfortunately, he was still in the spring.
Severus was cold and wet and threatened by unknown creatures, and that made him irritable. Which usually never boded well for anyone.
Severus was soaked with holy water, but he wasn't sure if that would be enough to keep the creatures away. He would have to try something else, and also hope that the magic of his fairy tree talisman hadn't been washed away by the spring. He tucked his wand into his sleeve and looked about, studying his surroundings. Nothing to stand in his way except for his assailants.
He sheathed his knife and removed from his robes a damp white handkerchief, luminous in the dark. He dipped it into the water, submerging it fully, and gathered all four corners together, tying them together tightly and gripping it underwater with his fingers.
Carefully, he moved towards the shore. The water would slow his movements while he was in the spring and pull down on his stride on land, and he was only interested in the latter - the former he could destroy if he got near enough to the edge without being noticed.
He was forced to stop every so often, as muzzles jerked in his direction. The creatures were quite aware of his movements, which Severus found disappointing, but not surprising. They weren't stupid, after all. They were an alien, intelligent race with their own faults and feelings; perhaps they might even underestimate him, if he was lucky.
So, abandoning all pretence, he waded to the shore, and onto the bank. He pulled with him the handkerchief, hefting it out of the water behind him, hoping his robes would properly obscure it. Water slopped and dripped from the handkerchief, but it also slopped and dripped from his robes.
Without waiting Severus broke into a sprint, heading right for the path between the two rocks with the cranes etched into their surfaces. They was a sharp, alien cry, which reminded Severus eerily of a hunting horn, as the creatures gave chase.
As he expected, just as he was about to move through the stones something jumped down from between them, blocking his path. Severus flung his arm out towards it, the collected holy water exploding in its snarling, toothy face.
Severus felt a split-second feeling of grim satisfaction as he leapt over the creature and sped down the path.
.x.
'There are many ways to create holy water, often depending on what religion the practitioner is drawing from. Holy water of the Christian faith is not like holy water of pagan faith.
Within some sections of pagan spirituality, holy water is blessed by the Goddess, and most often during the full moon. Water thus blessed is charged with energy of the moon (the power often depends on the phase if it is neither full nor new, or if it is a blue moon) is a symbol of purity and is used to bless, cleanse, and empower, among other things.
Water near sites of Power (see page 82) is more often than not naturally blessed from its proximity to the site. Samples of such empowered water are expensive, often due to the extreme charge within the water and its rarity. Some practitioners of the old ways are known to carry small glass containers which hold such water for protection or spiritual insight.'
Taken from Chapter Seven: Tools of Empowerment, "The Old Ways" by Cassandra Serenget, published 1892.
.x.
Bellatrix was walking. Every now and then she'd reach out and break a twig off a small tree, crumbling it between her own brittle fingers, just to have something to do. She knew that if she turned around, she would see it. So she didn't.
