Hey! Just so you know, as the Flashback/Dream part comes in you need to know that all of them are going in order from the most recent happening. And the last is a glimpse into one of the many paths of the future. Ok, then. Here we go…
Chapter 15- Dreams & Waking up
She would not die without a fight.
Sam rolled to her back and planted a kick in the hard, iron flesh of the werewolf's shoulder, cracking the bone.
It yelped and stumbled back, glaring fiercely at her. The shock melted from its eyes and a flicker of recognition passed over its sharp features before a throaty growl showed its long teeth.
The werewolf advanced.
"Remus!" Sam screamed hoarsely. "Remus, NO! You know me Remus, you know me… You know me…" Her voice slowly lost its strength and faded weakly out.
"Oh, God, Remus." She breathed. She showed the wand to him and then slowly pocketed it. "I can't do it. I could never do that to you."
The lycan licked its lips and sat down, cocked a shaggy head, stared at her. "Me and you, we were friends weren't we?" She asked softly.
She held out a shaky hand for him to sniff. "Remember?"
What are you doing? , yelled a distinguished voice from her head. It felt as though a glass barrier shattered and she was open to senses she didn't even know a human could have.
Hello idiot! This is a werewolf. A mix between dog and man! Do not trust him!
Who are you? Sam asked; she was careful to watch Remus and the distance that was inching closer between her hand and his muzzle.
Phah! The voice guffawed. Forgot old Kipuna already, huh? Some bonded pair we must've made.
Kipuna! My God, I forgot that we could talk like this! Where are you? Can you help me? There was no answer, but a very faint padding of feet broke into her awareness.
I'm sorry Hermione… Kipuna said. The werewolf's head had just brushed under her fingertips when Sam felt a searing flash of claws cut deep into the side of her face.
She threw her head back and screamed, the werewolf pulled back abruptly and snarled in outrage, closing his jaws on her wrist.
Sam fell in a crumpled heap at the lycan's feet. The heavy padding of paws vibrated beneath her head. She saw a stag steering the wolf away, a rat on its back.
Darkness clouded her vision. A warm tongue lapped at her wounded cheek. A distant repulsion at the contact flickered at the seed of her more primitive mind.
Gross! Dog germs… Sam sagged into the ground.
She would not wake again 'til after Christmas.
Flashback/Dream
"…and what reason would the pure-blooded Samantha Prewett have to destroy the Great, Lord Voldemort?" He asked softly. His lilting voice carried a venomous catch in its undercurrents that she did not miss.
"Kanly!" She spat. "Vendetta!" Her voice was lower than normal, thick with the swell of blood gurgling from a punctured lung.
"Vendetta on you for the murder of Regulus Black!" Her eyes shone defiantly and gleamed as he yelled at her.
"Murdered for spying? For being a mudblood loving fool? For deceiving me-"
"For making you look like a fool." She ground. "That's why you killed him." Tom's eyes narrowed dangerously.
"Silence!" He roared, back handing her across the cheek-bone. Sam couldn't help falling to the ground, but she silenced her tongue from crying out in pain.
She looked up at him accusingly and his eyes softened as he knelt down to her, placing a hand under her chin.
"No, you little fool." He whispered. "I killed him because he was a traitor, I had no other reasons to keep him." He traced a finger across her collar bone.
"But you my traitorous minx, I could have much further use for you…" He left the offer open-ended, looking to her lips every so often.
Sam gathered her nerves, thought everything out- and still found nothing better to do than spit her blood in his face. Ha! She thought victoriously. Mudblood blood- on you!
"That's all of me you'll ever get!" She spat. Tom's eyes hardened, the coldness nearly freezing her, he nodded almost as though to himself.
"Then you leave me no choice, Miss Prewett. Whether I wish it or not I am forced by the hands of leadership to see my followers punish you;" He paused and something lit deep in his frigid eyes.
"I will give you ample opportunity to work things out for yourself. I will leave you, ah, in charge whilst I am gone. Good luck my pet."
End Flashback/Dream
"What's wrong with her, Madam Pomfrey?" A soft voice asked meekly. "…Fever dreams. She's lost a lot of blood- sleep too… It's amazing she survived this long."
The nurse paused a moment, continued. "Where has she been all this long time? Why does she return now?"
She stopped her questions at a sharp glare from the Head Girl.
"Those are not safe questions to be asking, Poppy." Lily whispered fiercely. "All will be answered in time."
The nurse nodded and proceeded to mop the burning forehead of the comatose girl.
Flashback/Dream
"Ho!" One of the Death Eaters cried. "Hear how the wind howls? Like a pack of starved wolves, it is." He grumbled.
Sam leapt nimbly across the moors, not thinking of the agility required to perform what she so easily did.
"How many muggles out there, Fenrir?" She clipped at the man standing on the ledge. He sniffed the air again and turned to her with a grin.
"Twelve, milady." Sam nodded. She mentally went over calming exercises, noticing him watch her breath deeply. Let him think that I, too, ask the wind to tell its knowledge.
"Send out the Pack, friend." Fenrir nodded and kissed her hand. "You're too gracious Mistress." He smirked.
She imitated the smirk. You poor, despicable fool…
"Go Fenrir, your pack awaits your command." Fenrir grinned his yellow teeth at her. "And I await yours Mistress." I am not your damned Mistress! Ah, well, let them think so if it increases my popularity with the fools.
"Leave none alive. 'Tis now that is their darkest hour." Fenrir laughed mirthlessly and turned to his band of killers. "We feast!" He howled.
The air was soon filled with yips and snaps- then screams… and finally, the worst silence Sam had only heard once before: on the empty ramparts of Hogwarts after the Final Battle.
She shuddered.
"Does the crisp night air make you shiver so?" Came Tom's voice in her ear. "No, merely the biting frost in the wind. The tale it tells tonight is chilling."
He ran his elegant hands over her shoulders and pulled her against him. "Do not fear the night wind's tale. It speaks only of the deaths of those inferior to us. Naught can harm you by my side."
Ah, if only you knew that my destruction was your cause. She thought. So ironic. Tom gazed at her. "Now what goes on in that brilliant mind of yours?"
"I think of the friends that I leave behind, of the future that I have chosen ahead." Tom's brows knitted a little, he frowned and stared down at her.
"The Death Eaters approach. We should go and greet them." Sam nodded and turned away from her lookout position, walking toward the gathering ranks.
She sighed.
End Flashback/Dream
"What of the bite? Does the scratch counter its effects?" "I don't know, Remus. Only time will tell…"
Flashback/Dream
"Ah, I knew you would come to me." Tom smiled. He held out a hand and Sam took it. A Death Eater entered the tent at a signal from Tom, took her travel cloak and bag.
"Regulus gave you my message then?" He asked coolly. Sam grimaced. Unfortunately. "Yes, m'lord." She muttered submissively.
Tom shot her a quick look, rose to his full 6'4" height and looked down at her, cupping her face in his hands.
"Come now, Child. Don't be so formal with me. You are my Lady now. I should be calling you Milady." He smiled that smile he only saved for her.
Does he really feel how he says he feels? Sam wondered. She mentally shook her head, gazed steadily back. "Yes… Tom." She said throwing just the right amount of hesitancy into her voice.
"That's it." Tom smiled. "Tom, I must speak with you about the other Death Eaters and my position among them." She said urgently.
He turned and gave her his full attention. "They don't like me M'lord. They hate me." She blurted. Tom quirked an eyebrow, "Indeed?"
Sam nodded. "Jealous, I believe." Tom stared interestedly at her face, studying her expression. It expressed genuine concern.
"How will they accept my, ah, reign, over them if they do not like me? They might not even listen to You telling them to listen to me…" She rambled.
Tom rubbed his thumbs over her cheeks. "You just leave that to me my pet." He whispered. "You just leave that to me."
End Flashback/Dream
"Child, go find Dumbledore. We're losing her." Lily left the Hospital Wing with the sounds of Sam's fever-pitched moaning and jerky convulsions ringing in her head.
Flashback/Dream
Damn that Hagrid and his filthy mutt! Sam silently cursed. She was pressed against the tree that was, er, 'safely' nearest the Whomping Willow.
They damn near caught me! She snorted then promptly smacked a hand over her mouth and nose. Probably off to see that odious Grawp…
A quick scan of the shadows, trees, moors, and grounds told Sam that it was now safe for her to prod the knot under the Whomping Willow tree and travel into the tunnel that would lead to Hogsmeade; from there… to her apparition point.
The Shrieking Shack was as new as ever, but for the fact there were fresh and old teeth and claw marks embedded in the furniture and floorboards.
It looked as though a bunch of animals had been turned loose inside.
Sam smirked half-heartedly for she knew this to be true. Well… partly anyway.
Quickly scoping out the faint apparition line next to the tall, body length window, Sam drew an 'X' in the air and pointed her wand south.
With a pop she had left anywhere near and familiar and was now striding through the center of the Death Eater camp in the woods of Romania.
Hear how they boast and jeer. She thought bitterly. How they invite me into their tents for 'pleasurable company'. Of course, the Dark Lord would have assumed that I would have come. He must think I agree to be his consort…
Sam scowled. Well, that explains why they only invite and do not actually approach me. I am their lord's territory. Sam didn't think that she would be happier to say that than she was then.
Abraxas Malfoy stopped her outside the Dark Lord's tent, regarded her coldly. "I trust the traitorous youth has been disposed of." It wasn't a question so Sam didn't bother answering. He wasn't worth it in her eyes.
Malfoy grabbed her arm as she pushed around him, and twisted her around. "You'll get your comeuppance whore. Just be patient." Sam gripped his wrist and stared daggers into his pointed face.
"Release me now Malfoy or you'll get your comeuppance fro both my lord and I." She snarled. Malfoy sneered but nevertheless, released her and walked away.
Sam suppressed a cold chill that was not a product of the early December night. Malfoy was going to be a serious problem. She'd best talk to Tom about it soon.
End Flashback/Dream
"She's got to defeat her demons." Came Dumbledore's weary voice. "It's all up to her now; she is out of our hands."
Sam stirred in her coma-like sleep. A voice reached her somewhere in the depths of her consciousness. She fights through the dark places to reach the voice. Another dream takes her.
Flashback/Dream
"Destroy the place and you destroy the person."
"The higher you rise the harder you fall."
"Fear is the mind-killer…"
"The one who is many…"
"He can lead you astray…"
"Trust in the primitiveness that is your oldest and wisest self."
"What have you done?"
"Vanity will be the death of her…"
"There is no hope for them… for him there could be."
"Hope clouds judgment."
"From forth the bowels of mankind did forth spring the weapon, the poison and the antidote."
"Which path forks to the right path?"
"What have you done?"
Sam thrashed about on the bed sheets. The voices! Would they ever stop? They echoed consistently in her head, forcing her to listen, to evaluate the questions.
Some of these voices, they spoke truth.
"Aye, we all speak truth."
"Merely some are from the Past,"
"Some from the Present,"
"And some from the Future."
End Flashback/Dream
"We come from all branches of Possibility. We are the Ladies of the Desert, of Time."
Sam spoke simultaneously with the voices. That's right dear. The voice said. Now you may wake up.
A creak from the oaken floorboards sent Sam's eyes flying wide open. She lurched soundlessly to her feet and sunk into the shadows, observing the commotion that was soon to be brought within her view.
Two figures came striding down the length of the wing, one giving off the impression of indifference, the other in a position of pleading; both appeared to be in great haste.
"Please Sirius! I've changed; I'll do anything to prove it to you!" The pleading voice hissed. Sam calculated the distance between her and the two visitors and found that she had time to slip silently back into the bed undiscovered.
"Shut up Alyce!" The other snapped. "I don't care about you any more. Just go back to dinner." Sam lay quietly and deepened her breathing, giving off the impression of sleep.
"But Sirius! I love you…" Sam and Sirius immediately stiffened. He said nothing, but she felt his presence hovering above her, watching her.
Alyce approached, gently pushed the hair out of his face. "She doesn't love you." She whispered. "She abandoned you for a whole month, and now, she probably won't even wake up."
Sirius' resolve was breaking. Sam could feel it. Alyce could too. She leaned in for the kill.
"She killed your brother and left him for you to find." Rage boiled past breaking point, her body began to shake again. "Leave her." Alyce whispered coyly. "Come, let's walk by the lake."
The couple left and Sam lay shaking with suppressed rage and tears the rest of the night.
"Her breathing's deepened and the muscles have stopped twitching." An excited voice reported. "Good, good, best get me that rejuvenating potion."
"No need Madam Pomfrey." Sam mumbled. "All is well with me."
"Sam!" Lily shrieked and hugged Sam tightly. Though her ribs were still sore and smarted occasionally, Sam hugged fiercely back.
"How I've missed you. You must tell me what I've missed." Sam said smiling. She knew that everyone wanted to question her, but at the moment, all she wanted to do was pretend she had been on Holiday and was catching up with an old friend.
Sure enough though: "Miss Prewett, Dumbledore would like a word."
"Another time!" She barked, using the tone she used when talking to a Death Eater who insisted upon interrupting her. "Now, Lily, tell me everything."
Whew! Wow! Ok, that was easily my longest. I hope you enjoyed it. If you have any questions please just ask me. Keep looking in! ∞ Me ∞
