Saffron nodded and, steeling herself, looked down into the water.
Lights, colours and noise assaulted her senses leaving her disorientated and she grabbed at the edge of the fountain in an effort to steady herself. Then her eyes cleared and she was standing outside a house. She heard laughter coming from within and, curious, she walked to look in the window. Only, as she approached the wall seemed to dissolve and she could see the interior. A dark haired man sat with his back to her in a chair while a bright eyed child crawled along the floor. She started as she saw herself walk through one of the doorframes and walk over to pick up the child. She watched as she kissed the baby's forehead and stroked the black curls of soft baby hair. And as she cradled it the baby's face was turned towards her and she was inexplicably startled to see they were blue.
Then she saw herself standing with Lily. Her friend's expression was sad, but filled with a grateful, loving expression that she couldn't even begin to describe, "What would I have done without you Saff?" she heard Lily's voice saying, "What would any of us have done without you?" And behind she saw James walking towards them, holding a tiny bundle in his arms, "Is everything alright?"
Then the scene changed again and she saw herself at the same house she had seen the child and the unknown man, running out the door with tears streaming down her face.
Then she was somewhere bright and cold. In front of her she saw herself walking, shoulders slumped and head bowed. Up ahead something glowed brilliantly.
Then she was standing outside a different house, except there wasn't really enough of it left to be called a house. It was in ruins and it glowed faintly with a silver light that didn't only come from the moon above. Somewhere a baby was crying and the night was suddenly filled with the loud roaring of an engine and Sirius appeared, riding a flying motorbike. His face was pale and drawn and he half fell off his bike, dropping to his knees in front of the wreckage. He let out an anguished cry and covered his face with shaking hands.
Then she was at Hogwarts and she saw someone she didn't recognise standing out in the rain. The girl, who was really almost a woman, was standing on the Quidditch pitch, dressed in Gryffindor colours. Her long black hair lay limply around her face, and even through the rain she could see tears that fell freely from blue eyes and heard a voice whisper, "why did you leave me mother? Why didn't you love me enough to stay?"
And then she saw Sirius, thin and starved looking, shivering in a cell.
And then she saw him again, for a split second as he was hit by a bright red spell and fell backwards through a black curtain.
She cried out and fell to her knees, tears falling freely down her cheeks. She hadn't understood all of what she had seen, but she had understood enough. As hands helped her to her feet, she nodded, "I'll do it- I mean, I accept," her voice shook, but her resolve was firm. After all, no matter how much what she had seen had shaken her, they were only possible futures, right? Things didn't have to end like that did they?
A long, thin chain was placed over her head, the pendant weighing her down like an anchor. Then she felt a wetness on her forehead and she blinked.
When she opened her eyes again she was standing back in the forest. She looked around, but no-one was there. She sat down and leaning her back against a tree. Gazing upwards she looked at the light, gently tinted green from the leaves that trickled through patching the ground with light. Everything was silent.
With one hand she pulled out the chain and looked at the crescent moon that hung there. It was warm to the touch and smooth. Turning it over curiously, she noted with surprise that it was the largest she had seen. The other girls had been given pendants about half the size. That worried her slightly, thinking that somehow that seemed as if she was to be more important then them, and in her opinion that was definitely not a good idea. She didn't even have any idea what she was supposed to do.
A minute or so later she heard the sound of footsteps and saw Arabella walking towards her.
"How are you feeling?"
"Confused."
She came and sat down next to the younger girl, "you made the right decision, you know."
"Did I?" Saffron wondered out loud, "don't get me wrong, I'd do anything for Lily…but…"
"But?"
"I just don't think I'm cut out for the responsibility of this," she gestured to the pendant, "I can't help her protect the world, I don't have any special powers. What could I possibly do to be of any help at all?"
"Everyone has their own unique gifts and things that they can do that no-one else can. These many different traits mean that we do different tasks, but they all work towards a common goal." Arabella replied, "The Huntress is the weapon of the light and has the power and strength that come with this gift. But she's also a person. She has the same desires and fears that you do. Underneath all that ancient power lies the heart of a mortal woman. She needs you as a friend Saffron, to share the everyday things of life with; to listen to her, to care for her, to love her- all things that you are already doing." Then she smiled and reached out to squeeze her arm, "you're not expected to do great feats of power. Turn over your pendant."
Saffron looked slightly surprised by this remark, but obeyed.
"There," Arabella pointed to an engraving, "what's that?"
She lifted it up so it glinted in the light and traced the small shape, "a heart."
Arabella smiled, "want to see mine?" She pulled out her own pendant, which was about three quarters the size of Saffron's and turned it over. On the back was an engraving of an eye.
"What do they mean?" Saffron asked, reaching out to gently touch the engraving.
"What do you think?"
Saffron let go and turned back to her own crescent moon, thinking for a moment about what she had already been told, "I think that maybe it's part of what you said before about everyone having different gifts. And the engravings sort of mirror that. Yours is an eye because you see things that people don't say…" she faltered.
Arabella smiled encouragingly, "yes, but I also watch and observe. I've seen you and the Huntress together, I've seen her with a boy called James, I've seen her running through the forest at the full moon. But I've also seen other, darker things. Sometimes I see what is to come, but I do not speak of it for fear I influence the outcome in a way that I did not intend. But you, your mark is the heart, which is, I think, much more self explanatory."
Saffron smiled and nodded, "I understand."
Arabella got to her feet, "I must be going now, but no doubt I will see you again soon."
"But I won't see you right?" Saffron said with a grin, getting up too, and feeling much better for her talk with the older girl.
Arabella grinned and shrugged, "well, maybe sometimes." Then dissaperated with an audible 'pop'.
Saffron shook her head and headed off through the trees, hoping that sooner or later she'd find somewhere she recognised. As she walked she thought about what she had seen in the mirror. Were those really things that would happen in the future? It had felt so strange to be watching herself, not to mention seeing her own daughter! That must have been the same girl she'd seen on the Quidditch pitch, she had looked about the same age as she was now. And then there was Sirius…she didn't even want to think about what she thought she had seen.
***
Lily walked down the path towards Hogsmeade. It had been almost an hour since Saffron had gone. She'd waited for about half an hour before going to look for her friend, but hadn't any luck. And now she was beginning to doubt the certainty with which she had sent her away with that woman. What if she had been wrong? Saffron could be anywhere.
She clenched her fists and forced herself to take deep breaths, it was stupid to panic. After all Saffron hadn't really been gone all that long and she had been so sure that it was alright. But there was this nagging feeling at the back of her mind that she just couldn't shake that kept telling her she was wrong.
With a sudden movement she turned back on her heel and ran back to the forest, she'd look again. It took her ten minutes to reach the place where she'd last seen Saffron. Calming herself she sat on the ground, palms down, touching the earth and then closed her eyes. She sent her essence out, questing though the trees in search of her friend, slowly widening the circle of her awareness until she felt it brushing against the walls of the first houses in Hogsmeade.
Resisting the urge to panic she pulled back into her body. She hadn't found her. Traces, footprints of where she had been, but they had come to an abrupt end at the foot of a waterfall. And that was what worried her. All of a sudden she felt that she'd done something terribly wrong and that something horrible had happened to her best friend, all because of her. Starting to her feet she bit her lip, not knowing what to do.
For all her coolness when she had faced Voldemort, for all the power she knew she had within her, she was still only seventeen.
Footsteps sounded behind her and she span round, hoping to see Saffron.
"Oh James!" she cried, running up and throwing her arms round her startled looking boyfriend, "I don't know what to do, I've lost Saffron!"
"Hey, it's alright," he replied soothingly, stroking her hair, wondering what she could be talking about.
She drew back, "no, it's not. This woman came and asked to speak with her, and I thought it was ok and so I said she should go with her…but she hasn't come back."
"What?" he looked sharply at her, "When?"
She glanced at her watch, "almost two hours ago. I've searched these woods thoroughly but I couldn't find her."
"Calm down, and we can search again together, I'll go one way and you-"
"-no," Lily interrupted, "I did a…spell, she's definitely not there."
***
"Well this is stupid," Saffron said out loud, "I'm on the other side of Hogsmeade."
Somehow she'd appeared on the east side of the village and not the west, from where she had left. At that moment she was stood at the top of a fairly steep hill that led down to the outskirts of Hogsmeade. It took ten minutes of careful climbing down and several scrapes and grazes before she reached the bottom. Getting up and dusting down her clothes she headed into the centre, towards the loud buzz of chattering students.
It wasn't long before she ran into Remus coming out of the post office.
"Hey," she greeted, "where are the others?"
"Weren't you with Lily?"
"Well, yeah, but we...err…got separated."
"Oh right, well James's gone off to look for you two and Peter and Sirius are still in Zonko's."
"Guess I'd better go find Lily," Saffron said, "she'll be wondering where I've gotten to. Catch you later."
And she hurried off up the street to the path leading back to Hogwarts. Fifteen minutes later she arrived at the place she had left Lily.
"Lily!" she called, "Lily are you here?"
"Saffron!" Lily came bursting out of the trees and threw her arms round her neck, causing them both to stagger back into the wall.
James followed grinning, but obviously pleased to see her too.
"Geez Lily, I was only gone about half an hour," Saffron said with a laugh as Lily let go.
"Half an hour?" Lily repeated incredulously, "it's been almost two!"
"What?" she glanced down at her watch, "oh right. Well then…" she couldn't think of anything else to say.
"Well, no harm done, hey?" James said, slinging an arm round the two girls, "now, how about we head on down and join the others for a mug of butterbeer?" His glance at Saffron as they started to walk asked an unvoiced question to which she nodded. She would tell him later. As for Lily…something inside her told her to wait. There would be a time and a place for all that, but not now.
For at least a while Lily could live in a normal world and be a normal person, with all that came with that. And Saffron was unwilling to cut this any shorter than it need be. Something told her that once her friend had grown into her powers that things would never be the same again, hers was a path that only led forwards and there were no rest stops along the way.
And as long as Saffron had breath in her lungs she would be there for her. Whatever it took she would do it, whatever the price she would pay it. The future was an unnerving prospect, in a year's time she would be leaving school and she didn't know what was ahead. But she did know who her future lay with. Lily. She couldn't walk the path for her but she would always be there just waiting behind, waiting until she was needed.
Because they had divine blood that ran through their veins. Not immortal, not invincible but tainted with destiny purer and clearer than crystal. And blood will out.
***********
A/N: Ta-da! Ok so that was slightly evil of me ending the last chapter where I did, but I did good this time, right? No evil cliffys here. And I updated quickly, so you all forgive me, right? *angel face*
Well, what did people think? I forgot to mention about Arabella last chapter. I was fed up of seeing her appear as Lily's best friend when it seemed to me that there was no foundation for this really so I wrote her a completely different part. Plus when the 5th book came out it showed that she was actually older than Lily, and I know she's a squib in that but this is AU remember? Although oddly enough in 'The White Fire' I'm sticking as close to canon as possible, I don't really like it when people make huge changes to that era. Anyways, I'm rambling now…
Cinammon- I really love mythology, it's all so interesting even if it's sometimes very scary. Any stories or legends I'd be glad to hear, just send me an email, I can't promise I'll change or include anything, but I always enjoy reading that kind of thing.
The next chapter 'The Hogwarts Express' may be a bit longer in coming, I've got so much work at the moment it's untrue! And we're almost up to where my writing ends, so bear with me people. It won't be months, but longer than both of these updates I'd guess, unless by some miraculous chance my work gets done for me. Ah well…