Team
Falmouth Falcons
Position
Chaser 1
Main Prompt
Write about someone who believes in a higher power
Optional Prompts
(object) sword
(word) lighten
Word Count
1,062
The young centaur had risen before sunrise and found a clearing where he could study the stars in piece before the rest of his colony rose as well. Although he was young and still learning Firenze was more perceptive than many of his elders and almost considered to be a prodigy among his kind.
Despite this others often kept their distance because of his views that were not wide spread among the colony.
He frowned as he scanned a certain part of the sky that had caught his eyes nearly a month ago. The stars there, although they shone brightly, the colours told that it wouldn't take long before they expired. Something had been drawing him to these specific stars lately but no one else seemed to notice anything unusual.
He sighed as the sky started to lighten and turned to head back to his colonies camp. Before he exited the clearing however he heard a noise that drew him in the opposite direction.
He spotted the four teens as they sat on a log and passed a bottle between them to take the edge off their adventures from earlier in the night. He had seen them once before and his eyes grew wide with realization.
Looking back up at the sky he could just barely make out the cluster of stars through the morning haze. It was a long shot but what else could it be? He had first noticed the stars during the previous full moon when he had also last seen the young wizards.
He watched with dismay for a while longer, it was generally frowned upon to have any interaction at all with humans but to share centaur knowledge was strictly forbidden, if anyone found out he could be kicked out of the colony of even killed. At the same time Firenze was not like the others, he had never hated humans in the same way and thought it to be his duty to hep if he could.
After looking behind him Firenze made up his mind and stepped into the view of the teens, taking in their appearances for the first time. Three of the boys didn't seem at all startled by him but the fourth, whom he surmised to be the youngest, his behind his friends.
"You four are in grave danger." Firenze tried to tell them but James and Sirius just looked at each other as Remus eyed the centaur.
"What are you talking about?" Remus asked. "We come here all the time and nothing has ever seriously hurt us before." He said as he crossed his arms over his chest.
Firenze shook his head. "No, it is a danger greater than anything that lurks in the shadows of this forest." He told them as he turned back to the clearing and looked to the stars that he knew were hiding just out of view. "The stars have foretold it, though your lives may seem to shine brightly it is an illusion. They are doomed to end much sooner than any life should. "He said gravely.
The teens were silent for a minute before the eldest three began to laugh. "You have to be joking." Sirius said before standing. "C'mon, we should head back to the castle before they send out a search party." He yawned and stretched his arms over his head before starting to walk away, his friends soon following.
"But what if he's right?" Peter said worriedly as he trailed after his companions.
Sirius clapped a hand to his back. "Don't worry so much, I don't think any of us have plans of dying do soon."
Firenze frowned as he watched them go. "Don't be blinded by your own ignorance, young ones, things aren't often what they seem." He said to himself before heading back to the camp.
That night Firenze was compelled to once more gaze towards those same stars. Although they still shone just the same one of them seemed to almost be shrouded in a darkness. "So one of them has already made the decision to change hiss path, but will it be enough?" He sighed, wishing he could have done more.
He never did mention that night to anyone but over the years he kept an eye on those stars, watching the changes they went through with each major decision the boys made.
It was only 3 years later when the first of the stars vanished from the night sky, it was that sae night that the tip of Orions sword dulled for the first time since the war had began.
'I wonder if it's a coincidence' He tried to tell himself it was though he knew that such things rarely happened. 'Did one of them sacrifice himself for the sake of the others?' He contemplated this for a minute but then resigned himself to never knowing the full truth.
For 13 peaceful years there was little change in that area of the sky until the night that the tip of Orions sword once again shone more brightly. It was then that he knew fate was going to get her way once again and that this was far from over.
That night he also decided that he wanted to share more of what he knew and his chance came only a few months later when he was asked to tech at the school.
While at Hogwarts he was able to see first hand the consequences of his failed warning as he learned of the son who had been left behind.
Although he was initially unsure what had become of the remaining subjects of his first prophecy he kept an eye on the stars and was saddened to see another vanish at the end off that year.
By the time the battle made it's way to the normally well protected castle there was only one star remaining but it was weak, as though it had been barely hanging on for a long time.
Firenze had joined the battle to fight with those who had helped him when he was cast out by his own kind an, even when he was badly injured they didn't discard him.
As he lay recovering the centaur watched the enchanted ceiling of the great hall and shed a tear as the last star vanished, realizing that after all these years they had become comrades.
