Chapter 10: Discovery
The next morning, Lily marched into the Great Hall and collapsed into the seat across from Sairina and let out the oh-so-familiar groan of her frustration before she slammed her head on the table, thus creating the sound of a coconut being cracked. Sairina shook her head in mirth and gave her friend a bemused smile.
"I'll bet that hurt," Sairina smirked and Lily grunted in ascent, "What's got you so down in the dumps this morning?" Lily's head sprung up and she pulled a wrinkled letter from her pocket.
"This," she said motioning animatedly to the envelope, "is not going to work."
"Why not?" Sairina demanded, "You two were getting on so well at the feast . . ."
"I can't read it," Lily interrupted flatly as she unfolded the letter.
"What?" Sairina asked with confusion and snatched the letter from Lily. She opened it and glanced through it before laughing out loud. The letter was written in the runes of the common speech. "I completely forgot about the different writing styles. Here, I'll translate it for you, and I'll start teaching you the script of the common tongue." Sairina produced a quill and roll of parchment from her bag and began to translate for Lily while showing her the different symbols.
When she finished, the letter read:
My Dearest Lily,
I fear that I am losing my Rohirric nerve! I have only just left your company, but I feel as if we have been parted for years. Enough of my sentiments . . .
I hope that all is well for you at school. If this be not so, then I hope that things will improve. I know that my own schooling is a burden at times, so if you need a person to sympathize with you, feel free to vent your frustrations with myself.
I was also pondering when your schooling ends for the year. Sairina often speaks of having a "summer break" and I assume you have this break as well. The reason for this train of thought is because I was wondering if you would like to visit Rohan this summer. It is a beautiful time to visit, except it can be quite hot with harsh southern winds, but other than that, the landscape is quite breath taking.
I await your letter with anticipation.
Regards,
Elfwine
"That is so precious," Lily sighed when she finished reading the translated copy.
"He is a charmer," Sairina concurred, "that much is certain." Lily stood to go, but Sairina grabbed her arm, "Lily, be cautious of what you say. The boy may be young, but he has broken many hearts already." Lily nodded.
"I'm notgoing to be able to go any way," shereplied, "My sister is getting married this summer to that git, Vernon Dursley."With that she disappeared from the hall. Sairina sighed and went back to reading her book. A few moments later, she could tell that someone sat down in front of her, but she didn't feel the need to lower her book. Assuming it was Lily, she said:
"Did you forget something, Lily?"
"No, but I think you did," a hard voice retorted with a snort. Sairina cringed inwardly and timidly lowered her book. Three of the four Marauders were standing in front of her with James seated and staring intently at her.
"How may I help you gentlemen?" Sairina asked cheerfully. Sirius rolled his eyes and scoffed.
"Cut the act," he growled, "we're not idiots you know."
"Sure could have fooled me, Black," Sairina snapped back. Sirius looked ready to kill and started reaching for his wand, but Remus stayed his hand and anger.
"Sairina," James began with a startlingly soft and dangerous edge to his voice, "We know you and Lily went somewhere the past three days. Where did you go?" Sairina sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. She had not been expecting an inquisition when they arrived back at the school.
"Family emergency," she lied after a few moments of silence, "There were extenuating circumstances, and Professor Dumbledore allowed Lily to accompany me." James glared at Sairina fiercely, attempting to stare her down. Sairina, however, held her ground.
"If that is all you want, Potter," Sairina said standing, "I'll be on my way now." Sairina turned on her heel and stormed out of the Great Hall.
What is his problem? He acts like he owns Lily! Sairina thought angrily as she made her way to the library. She was about to open the door when someone placed their hand on top of hers on the doorknob. Sairina was about ready to yell at whoever it was when a voice spoke softly into her ear.
"Don't let James get under your skin, he's just worried," a familiar voice explained. Sairina turned and saw Remus smiling weakly. Sairina gaped like a fish out of water, floundering for something to say; Remus just had that effect on her.
"Why is he worried?" Sairina asked coarsely, "It's not like they're courting." Remus cocked an eyebrow at her.
"Courting?" he asked, "I don't think I've ever heard a teenager use that term. Most teens tend to use the term 'dating'." Sairina blushed brightly.
Careful now . . . Your princess is showing . . .
"My family's very traditional," Sairina said in a solemn tone nodding her head. Remus laughed dryly.
"I suppose that's the way things go when you're a princess," Remus said lightly. Every last drop of color drained from Sairina's face in an instant.
"What . . . d-d-did you say?" Sairina stammered and clutched onto the wall for support. How did he find out? How the bloody hell did he find out! Remus began laughing.
"Nothing . . .," he said dismissively, "A few nights ago, Lily hinted that you were something, and Peter is under the disillusionment that you are a princess." Remus laughed heartily while Sairina laughed weakly.
"That's . . . pretty funny," Sairina said as she continued to laugh weakly. That was WAY to close for comfort, Sairina thought harshly. Remus nervously played with the hem of his sleeve.
"So what happened?" Remus asked softly as he reached for Sairina's hand. She looked at him curiously.
"What do you mean?" she asked confused as she interlaced her fingers with his. Remus smirked.
"Your 'family emergency', what was it?" Remus asked softly as he tucked a stray hair behind Sairina's ear, and once again he felt the oddity, how her ear came to a slight point.
"My mother became suddenly ill," Sairina lied, and it killed her inside to do so, "We didn't know if she was going to make it." By now her voice was barely above a whisper as Remus closed the distance between them. He looked into her eyes intently.
"You're lying," he smirked, "I can see it in your eyes. What are you hiding from me?" Sairina broke eye-contact and looked at the floor. Remus swore inwardly. She still wasn't going to tell him. If only he could make her see how worried he was . . .
Impulsively he reached out and cupped her cheek and raised her eyes back up. He leaned in slowly and gently brushed his lips against hers. Sairina was stunned; she had no clue what to do. Should she pull away, scream, slap him? Her mind raced, but instinct took over.
She kissed him back.
Remus cautiously pulled away and looked her in the eyes. There was anticipation, nervousness, and confusion apparent in her eyes, and he smiled. He gently caressed the side of her face with his thumb.
"Tell me, soon, love," he requested softly before he kissed her brow and walked away. After he had vanished from sight, Sairina collapsed onto the floor. Her senses were on fire. The world was more defined, and everything seemed brighter. She experienced so many emotions at the same time: anger, confusion, fear, lust. Sairina really didn't know what to think, but one thought was prevalent.
She hadn't wanted him to pull away.
/0/0/
The Christmas Break ended, and classes resumed once more. The second half of the year always seemed to fly by in the blink of an eye for Sairina. With all of her classes, Quidditch, translating several letters for Lily, and approaching exams she had little time to think about what had happened during the previous break. Her schedule had been so packed, that she didn't even have time to talk to Remus about tutoring or what had happened.
Spring had come to the castle, and the rains along with it. It was yet another rainy Saturday, and Sairina was currently sitting at the Ravenclaw Table doing Divination homework, attempting to drown out those around her. She scratched on her star chart and was in deep concentration.
"Mercury is going to be in the third house, Mars in the fifth, and in conjunction with the full moon that means that a person born under Jupiter in the fourth house will have times of toil ahead and . . . wait that can't be right . . ." she muttered constantly to herself as she scratched some notes on her piece of scrap paper. She set her quill down for a moment and applied pressure to her temples.
For the past few days, she had been having head splitting headaches. Afraid to go to Madame Pomfrey (for fear the woman may try to confine her to a bed and say that the headaches were a result of the Quidditch injury), Sairina put up with the headaches, and they tended to go away. But now wasn't one of those times.
Her head was throbbing in pain, so much pain that her vision blackened. She grabbed the sides of her head and willed it to stop. She whimpered as the pain climaxed, it crescendoed in to a constant ringing in her ears and a persistent fire in her mind. Sairina didn't know how much more she could take, she could feel herself struggling to keep conscious and fighting to not let the pain subdue her. Suddenly it was gone, she meekly opened her eyes.
She was no longer sitting at the Ravenclaw table. She immediately recognized the seventh floor corridor, but wondered how she had gotten there. Whilst pondering this, Professor Dumbledore walked pass her, paying her no heed.
"A vision?" Sairina asked herself, "but why now?" Shrugging her shoulders, she followed Dumbledore. He walked down the corridor until he reached a spot of wall that was unadorned. Upon reaching it, he paced in front of it three times before stopping and turning to the wall. Sairina jumped when she saw that where there had been nothing before, there was now a door. Dumbledore turned the knob and entered, Sairina followed after him.
The room was nothing spectacular. There were a few pieces of furniture covered by large white sheets, a few dusty crates, and one window that had been boarded up. Dumbledore flicked his wrist and several candelabras lit magically and gave the room an eerie feeling, casting long shadows on the walls. As Sairina took in the room, she had failed to notice Dumbledore walking with direction for a table covered in a sheet on the far side of the room. When he swept off the sheet on a table, she turned to him and strangled a surprised shout.
The Palantir of Sauron was seated on a large cushion in the middle of a table.
Everything went dark once more.
When Sairina opened her eyes, she was back in the Great Hall staring down at her Divination homework. People were loud and talking, nobody had noticed that she had a vision. She deftly shoved her homework into her bag along with her quill and raced out of the hall.
She wove her way through the throngs of students in the halls nodding and waving to those who greeted her, but kept moving. The higher she climbed through the castle, the sparser the crowds became, until she reached the seventh floor corridor where there was not a soul. She made her way to the bit of blank wall and stared at it in puzzlement. Eventually, she felt along all the cracks for some type of hidden catch that might open the door, or at least cause it to appear. She had no such luck, so she began to pace.
I don't know how he did it, Sairina thought, all he did was walk in front of it, and the room with the palantir appeared. No magic, no muttered passwords, just pacing. By this time she stopped and looked at the wall. To her surprise, there was now a door where the blank wall had once been. With her quivering hand she reached out to the doorknob, and it turned easily. The door swung open, and she stepped into the room.
It was exactly as it had been in the vision. There were sheet covered furniture, dusty crates, and boarded up windows. With a flick of her wand, she lit up the candelabras just as she had seen Dumbledore do. With a steady step, she made her way to a sheet covered table on the far side of the room. She grabbed a corner of the white sheet and pulled it off the table slowly. There was the black orb in all its glory, and Sairina could feel its power vibrating through her body.
Impulsively, she reached her hand out towards it. Her hand shook in anticipation as her reason told her not to touch it. She argued with herself for a few moments. IF the essence of Sauron was waiting in the palantir to be released, she could unwittingly cause it to be free. She knew there was some ancient prophecy concerning his resurrection and her magical powers. Then again, she may be able to defeat him now . . . or at least do some damage . . .
Taking a deep breath, she placed her hand on the cool, glassy surface of the palantir. She could feel a shiver rise up her arm, and she looked into the black depths of the seeing stone. For a few moments, there was nothing but the shivering sensation moving through her body, the power of the palantir, but nothing to the likes of what Sauron's power could be.
Show yourself, Sairina demanded silently of the orb, I know you are in there. I demand that you show yourself!
The orb's response was to send the sharp pain of fire through her arm, forcing her to close her eyes. In her mind's eye, she was in a black space, a type of limbo, and before her was Sauron's bright eye. She could feel him drawing her in, using his black speech to subdue her. She heard him with her ears and in her mind. He whispered false promises, and killed hopes. He tried to seduce her into the darkness.
Sairina stuck out her hand and a bright light issued forth, and knocked the eye away, breaking his hold on her. He caused her physical temple pain for her actions, but she stayed strong. He had seen into her mind, now it was her turn to see into his. She focused all of her power into seeing beyond the eye. She saw a thousand lifetimes pass before her eyes. She saw the first war of the Ring with the Last Alliance, and she saw the Battle before the Black Gate; she also saw everything in between, and beyond. Sauron's spirit forced her out with a bone crushing power. She writhed in pain, screaming, and tried to escape, but he was to powerful for her. She had used most of her magic stamina when she peered into his thoughts.
With one last push, she forced him away, and ripped her hand from the palantir. Her blurred vision could make out that the orb, it was still glowing a fierce orange color. The scream was still sounding from her mouth as she staggered about the room for a moment or two when and oppressive darkness overtook her vision, and she crumpled onto the floor and her scream died on her lips.
/0/0/
"Sweet Merlin, who was that?" James asked his friends as they sat in the library huddled over their books.
"I don't know," Sirius replied shaking his head gravely, "whoever it was, it sounded like they were in trouble." The boys stood like the rest of the students in the library, and ran towards the doors. When they stepped outside the library, they were greeted by the sight of teachers running every-which-way looking for the source of the unearthly scream. Remus looked around nervously, noticing the absence of a certain black haired Ravenclaw . . .
He let out a sigh of relief when he saw Lily a few steps away from him. He moved to her side soundlessly and tapped her on the shoulder.
"Where's Sai?" he asked suppressing his nerves which were driving him mad. Lily looked at him with worry and gapped for words like a fish out of water gapes for air.
"I thought she might have been with you," Lily replied finally, "She said she was having some trouble with the pixie essay, and she was going to try and find you." Lily ran her hand nervously through her red locks. "I hope nothing happened to . . ." A commotion at the end of the hall interrupted Lily in mid sentence.
Several teachers were rushing down the hall with a white stretcher floating in between them. Lily let out a cry when she saw who was on the stretcher. Sairina lay, seemingly unconscious, with several gashes on her face. The entire left sleeve of her robes had been burned away, and her arm was scarred and looked like it was burnt extremely badly, like she had stuck her arm into a fireplace. Lily rushed forward and demanded of Dumbledore what had happened.
"I can't tell exactly what happened," Dumbledore said gravely, "Only Sairina knows that, but I have an idea." The students outside the library watched as the stretcher, all the teachers, and Lily vanished down the hall. Remus cast a dark look at his friends before vanishing down the hall after those who just disappeared.
"What the bloody hell do you think is going on, James?" Sirius asked. James shrugged.
"I don't know," he murmured, "But I think Remus is going to need some support."
/0/0/
In the hospital wing, Remus was pacing impatiently with his arms crossed and brow furrowed. His friends watched him helplessly. They had tried to console him and assure him that everything was going to be fine. Lily was also outside the infirmary with the Marauders, but she had sunk down against a wall and was crying silently.
"Mate," Sirius sighed, "she'll be fine. Madame Pomfrey will heal her up fine." Remus stopped pacing and looked at his friends.
"I know she'll be fine," Remus said and turned his eyes to Lily, "I don't know what happened to her, and that's what is worrying me. Will it happen again?" This last question was pointed directly to Lily who raised her tear streaked face.
"I don't know," Lily replied honestly, and was overcome by a fresh wave of sobs. Remus let out a sigh and went back to pacing. This continued for several minutes when Professor Dumbledore opened the door and beckoned the five students to enter. They somberly made their way into the room and Dumbledore directed them on where to go.
"The last bed on the right," he said as they moved past him. Lily ran to her friend's side and began sobbing once more. The Marauders moved around the barrier cautiously. Sairina was resting peacefully, but something was different . . .
Her face, normally bright with cheer and laughter, was slightly ashen. She looked older, not in terms of years, but she seemed as though she had suddenly become wiser, and that the weight of this wisdom was affecting her physically. Dumbledore let out a sigh as Lily wiped her tears away.
"She'll be fine right?" Lily asked turning to Dumbledore. He nodded silently and motioned for Lily to turn back to Sairina.
"Yes, I'm too stubborn to die yet," Sairina croaked as she opened her eyes weakly. Lily hugged her friend.
"What happened, Sai?" Remus asked as he moved from Dumbledore's side to hers. Her face darkened even further. Pain flashed momentarily across her face before she opened her mouth to speak once more.
"I saw him, Professor," Sairina whispered, "I fought him and barely came out alive." Her voice started to crack. Dumbledore looked at her intently yet sympathetically.
"Did you discover anything?" He asked softly. Sairina looked at the blankets on her bed for a moment. Thousands of images that she had seen through Sauron flashed before her eyes, but one was far more important than the rest.
"I," she began softly, "know the prophecy." Dumbledore's eyes went wide as she looked up into his eyes with determination. "I need to speak with my father, now."