To my reviewers: I'm sorry about the long time between updates, but the writing is becoming trickier. I know what I want to happen for the rest of the story, but I'm trying to perfect it so you have the most enjoyable read possible. Quality over speed I say . . . but with school starting up (freshman year of College) I'm going to guess that I'll be a tad bit on the busy side. But no need for such graphic reviews coughRhythmiccough ;-D. They're just creepy . . .
Chapter 20: The Fallout
"Oh my . . . Sairina!" Professor Flitwick squeaked as he ran to the girl in a heap on the floor. Students began crowding around the fallen girl, and the small professor had to fight his way to get to the girl. When he finally got to her, he wasn't surprised to see that Remus Lupin was propping her up and Lily Evans was using her robe to stop the bleeding coming from her friend's stomach. The other three Marauders were attempting to do crowd control and get their curious fellow fifth years to back up.
As the Charms professor began to cast several healing spells on his beaten and bloodied student, Dumbledore swept into the Great Hall with McGonagall right behind him as well as several other professors. He conjured up a stretched and began handing out instructions to the other professors.
"Minerva," he said in a commanding tone that none of the students had ever heard him use before, "get Miss Telcontar to the infirmary immediately," the head of Gryffindor House was gone with the stretcher in the blink of an eye, "Pomona, take over proctoring the exam for Filius. Filius and Horace, come with me." The teachers all began to disperse and Remus and Lily moved to follow them. Dumbledore quickly put a stop to that.
"But professor," Lily tried to argue, "She is our friend, we're worried about her." Dumbledore sighed heavily.
"I understand that, Miss Evans," Dumbledore said as his pale blue eyes met with her intense emerald ones, "but you must stay here and finish your exam, then you may go see to Miss Telcontar. She will be fine I assure you. You and I both know that she is made of stronger stuff than most." Dumbledore then gazed meaningfully at the Marauders telling them silently not them argue with his decision either. Without another word, he left the Great Hall with Professor Slughorn and Flitwick right behind him.
Dumbledore looked sadly at the sporadic trail of crimson that Sairina had left behind on the marble floors of the castle. With an uncanny speed, that many would not have thought the old headmaster to be capable of, Dumbledore ran down the hallways following the trail of blood to its starting place. At times, it seemed to the two men who were following him that Albus didn't even seem to be following the trail. Rather, he seemed to already know where the girl had received her wounds and was merely looking for the quickest route there.
The trail stopped suddenly in the seventh corridor where the blood seemed to come straight from a spot of unmarked wall. Dumbledore paced three times in front of it before a simple door appeared. Throwing it open, Albus stormed in wand drawn and at the ready. The other two professors followed in after him. If Albus had been surprised at what was in the room, he didn't show it. The other professors couldn't help but let out a slight gasp.
There were definite signs that a struggle had occurred. Blood was splattered all over the walls. Several of the white sheets that had covered various objects had been stained with blood and had large tears in them. There was a throwing knife imbedded in the wall just behind the door stained with the congealing red liquid. However, the most noticable and gruesome sign of a fight lay in the middle of the room.
There lay a man surrounded by a pool of dark scarlet liquid that had once been the life force that flowed through his veins. The blood seemed to originate from a wound in his neck where the hilt of a dagger was still protruding. His lifeless eyes stared at the ceiling as rigor mortis had set in causing his entire body to tense up. Albus let out a heavy sigh as he surveyed the gory scene.
"Albus," Filius said weakly, "the palantir." All of the staff had known about Sairina's origins, the prophecy, and the fact that the Room of Requirement had been storing the final essence of a terrible dark lord that belonged to another world and timeline. Albus stared tiredly at the cushion that it had once sat upon, and he knew it was long gone.
"What do you supposed happened?" Horace mused as he conjured a sheet to cover the dead man on the floor. Albus sighed wearily.
"There were two men, maybe three," Albus said looking around the room, "Sairina had been in this room waiting for them because of the vision she had during the Divination exam. She was probably preparing to leave when they entered, so she hid to surprise them. They probably saw her and attacked. One of the men took the Palantir and ran, maybe with another man as back up. The last one stayed and fought with Sairina."
"We can obviously see the outcome of that duel," Filius said darkly. Dumbledore sighed heavily as he conjured another stretcher under the dead man.
"Horace," Dumbledore said turning to the portly potions professor, "take the body down to the infirmary." Sludgemore nodded and began guided the floating stretcher with his wand. Dumbledore turned to Filius, "We must go speak to Elessar." The small professor nodded grimly.
"This is almost too much, Albus," he said as they left the room and walked up a flight of stairs to the eighth floor, "First you-know-who, and now this. In all honesty, I think we are getting to old to play the part of the hero."
"Curuni," Dumbledore said and the mirror melted away, "Sometimes, I think the same thing, Filius. But we must carry on until the heroes of the next generation step up to the plate." The two professors stepped through the portal an into Sairina's bedroom. They paused for a moment to check on and revive the two guards who had been bound, gagged, and knocked out. One they were sure that the men were alright, they left the room and began to move down the corridor's to Elessar's private study.
"Albus, I was wondering," Filius mused out loud as he jogged to keep up with the long strides of the headmaster, "Why did Sairina return to the Great Hall for exams instead of chasing down the man who had the palantir?"
"An excellent question," Dumbledore said as they rounded a corner, "While we can only guess until Sairina wakes up, I do have an idea. It is a great shock to a person's system to take the life of another, especially if the person is young, like Miss Telcontar. After she had done it, her mind probably had difficulty processing what she had just done because it was so out of character for her, and so it reverted back to something that was familiar."
"Which meant going back to exams," Filius continued for the headmaster, "the human mind is a fascinating thing. Do you think that she knows that the palantir is gone?"
"Yes," Dumbledore said sadly, "and I fear that she is going to blame herself for allowing whoever took it to get away . . . ah, here we are." Dumbledore knocked loudly on a large wooden door which swung open almost immediately. Elessar looked faintly startled at the two professors at his study door.
"What happened?" he asked slowly as fear edged into his voice.
"The palantir is gone," Dumbledore said morosely, "and Sairina was injured in an attempt to keep the thieves from taking it." There was a brief flash of fear on the king's face, but it was quickly replaced by a stony look.
"Tell me everything," Elessar said with an edge of curtness to his normally gentle voice.
/0/0/
Sairina woke with a throbbing headache in a blindingly white space. The sun's cruel rays were beating down on her fragile eyes. She let out a painful moan as she buried her face into her pillow. How did she get into the hospital wing this time? With her eyes shut tight she attempted to remember.
Pain . . . red . . . fear . . . those lifeless eyes . . .
It all came back to the girl is an overwhelming flood. The fight, the fact that she had taken another person's life, that she had failed to protect the palantir.
Groaning, she sat up in the uncomfortable hospital cot and began to check out where she had been hurt. The gash across her abdomen was wrapped in white gauze and bandages as was the deep cut on her arm. She raised her hand to her forehead and winced as she gently probed the wound there. She decided that she didn't have time to sit around; she needed to talk to her father. She shakily rose from her bed and donned the uniform that was placed there and pulled on her shoes. As she pulled her arms into the sleeves of the outer black robe as she left the infirmary.
She strode past the shut doors of the Great Hall and immediately made her way up to the eighth floor corridor to talk to her father. However she was intercepted by him as well as Professor Dumbledore and Professor Flitwick as they made their way to the infirmary to see her.
"My child," the king gasped rushing towards his child, "Thank the Valar you are still alive." He embraced Sairina in a tight hug causing her to whimper. He released her and looked at her in concern.
"Sorry," she murmured, "the wounds are still hurting." The elder man nodded knowingly having suffered many injuries himself.
"But are you alright, Sairina?" he asked and his daughter knew he wasn't talking about her physical well-being.
"I-I-I don't know, ada," she said quietly looking away, "I took a man's life, and I allowed the other to get away from the palantir. I feel as though I have failed you . . . I'm sorry if I disappointed you . . ." The king sighed tiredly.
"You have not disappointed me, Sairina," her father said kindly, "We will simply have to find other ways of keeping the prophecy from becoming reality." Dumbledore cleared his throat catching the attention of the father and daughter pair.
"I am afraid I must ask you to continue this conversation later, Elessar," Dumbledore said calmly, "Your daughter has only just been treated for her injuries and should not be up and about at this time." Elessar looked back to his daughter.
"He's right," he said narrowing his gaze, "You should be resting." Sairina grinned sheepishly.
"Sairina, Professor Flitwick will see you back to the infirmary," Dumbledore instructed and her small head of house took her hand.
"But professor," Sairina protested, "What about my exams?"
"Relax, Miss Telcontar," Dumbledore said calmly, "I will explain to the proctors your . . . situation . . . and you will probably be allowed to make up the Defense practical test at a later date. You may be well enough in the morning to take the Transfiguration exam. Now go and rest." Sairina nodded and allowed herself to be led off.
/0/0/
It was late evening when Lily finally managed to get some alone time to go visit Sairina in the Hospital Wing. The Defense exam had taken a lot out of her and she had taken a quick nap after the fact. She would have been down sooner, but her dorm mates reminded her that she said she would help them study for the Transfiguration exam since none of them were particularly good in the subject. By the time they had finished, it was dinner hour. Skipping out on it and the gossipmongers who dwelled there, Lily went straight for the Hospital Wing.
"Hey," Lily said softly approaching her friend's cot, "How are you doing?" Sairina let out a tired sigh.
"I've been better," she replied as tears welled up in her blue eyes, "Oh Lils, it's just horrible!" The normally strong and composed girl broke down into tears and Lily rushed to her and enveloped her in a hug and began comforting her friend.
"Shh," Lily murmured, "Tell me what's wrong." Sairina took a staggering breath and told Lily what had happened. Lily sat in stunned silence.
"And n-n-now the p-p-palantir is gone and it's all my f-f-fault," Sairina wailed, "On top of all that, I killed someone and the Ministry isn't going to let me retake the practical part of the Defense exam."
"What?" Lily exclaimed outraged, "Why not?"
"Dumbledore gave them an edited version of the truth, saying that I had been harassed by fellow students and locked in a closet with some Doxies," Sairina explained, "But they said that it had been my fault for wandering off on my own. They said, 'her ineptitude in the situation is enough to suffice that even if she had taken the exam, she would have failed.'"
"Those bloody toerags," Lily swore angrily as she patted Sairina on the back in a comforting gesture, "It'll be alright."
"I hope so," Sairina mumbled hastily wiping away her tears, "There is just so much I feel like I have to deal with right now . . ."
"Just know that you're not carrying the world on your shoulder," Lily cut in, "Sure, you have a lot to deal with, but I'm here to help you."
"Yeah," Sairina conceded, "I've got you and Remus," Lily's face darkened, "Oh no, what happened?"
"Right now I am not too thrilled with those . . . those . . . marauders," Lily spat the last word causing Sairina to grimace, "Especially Black and Potter."
"What happened?" Sairina asked again dreading her friend's answer.
"They were harassing that Slytherin, Snape, again," Lily said crossing her arms, "And I demanded that they stop, and you know what they did? They made jokes about it. I mean, the kid has it bad enough . . . anyway. So Potter and I start fighting and he tries to ask me out saying that he'll never bug Snape again if I do. I told him that I'd rather go out with the giant squid . . ."
"You've said that to him before," Sairina interrupted, "Remember in the book store."
"I know, but that's beside the point," Lily said waving it off, "So then Snape is going to get his wand in order to defend himself, and he fires a spell at Potter who then flips him upside down exposing his underpants." Both of the girls shuddered.
"Then what?" Sairina ventured to ask. Lily huffed angrily.
"Well three of the four idiots are laughing their asses off with everyone else," Lily explained, "And your charming boyfriend is doing nothing to stop them. So I finally convince them to let him down and then threaten them by drawing my wand. Then Snape has the audacity, after I've helped him when I didn't have to, to call me a 'mudblood.'"
"I have a feeling Potter didn't like that . . ." Sairina winced.
"No he didn't," Lily scoffed and muttered something that sounded like 'hypocrite,' "He then tries to force Snape to apologize and I told Potter I didn't want him to force and apology and I told him he was just as bad as Snape. He came up with some lame defense and I just let him have it before I told him he made me sick and walked away." Sairina sighed and shook her head.
"I dare say James deserved your tongue lashing . . ." Sairina sighed. She was deeply disappointed with Remus's actions or lack thereof, but she knew his reasoning behind it, "Remus has tried in the past to get Sirius and James to stop if he thinks that they take something too far, but they never listen to him."
"But he's a prefect," Lily countered, "He should at least try!" Sairina sighed.
"Lily, they don't listen to authority at all," Sairina responded.
"Well that's because nobody tries to stop them," Lily shot back, "I'll bet you don't even try! God, why is it that I am the only one who sees those two for the egotistical brats that they are?" Without another word to Sairina, Lily stormed from the Hospital Wing. Sairina sighed tiredly. Having her best friend angry with her was the last thing she needed on top of everything else.
/0/0/
Sairina's fifth year ended on a more somber note than the years prior. She and Lily were still at odds, even though Sairina had tried to apologize and set things right. In turn, things were rough between her and Remus. After the attack and theft of the palantir, he felt the need to constantly hover and keep an eye on Sairina, which drove her nuts. This led to a shouting match between the two in an empty classroom and a rift between them that couldn't be repaired in the dwindling days of the school year.
When Sairina finally returned to her home through the mirror portal, she was fed up with school, relationships, and friendships. She had only one thing on her mind, and it was the driving force behind her for the entire duration of the summer months as she poured over the ancient spellbooks left to her by Elrond before eventually traveling to Rivendell in search of something more.
She needed to find a way to stop that prophecy . . .