Chronicles Bailey: Was it soon enough for you? : )
CHAPTER XVII: SLYTHERIN
Victoria followed the Elf to a small garden with a fountain in its middle.
My Lady, the maiden you have sent for,Haldir announced with a graceful bow.
Galadriel smiled. Thank you, Haldir. Now leave us and see that no one will disturb us,she dismissed him kindly.
I will, my Lady.With a last bow, he took his leave.
As soon as he was out of sight, the Lady turned her gaze to the seventeen-year-old girl standing in front of her.
I'm here. What do you want? said girl asked hostilely.
Talk to you. There are things you must know, Victoria of Slytherin, before continuing your journey.
Victoria's eyebrows rose. What are you talking about?
Information. Events that happened long ago and others that shall happen. Her blue eyes rested on her. I know you don't believe in destiny, Victoria, but only in choices…What I will tell shall give you the opportunity to open new doors and start new paths. After all, Gandalf was right: you did not come here accidentally.
The witch frowned. How can you know that I don't believe in destiny and what Gandalf told me? You've…
Entered your mind? Of course, my dear. I must admit that it has not been easy, but I did so. I know your thoughts and your memories. I know what lies in your past. She moved as to lay a hand on her shoulder, but the girl avoided that touch, glaring at her. Galadriel took her hand back and was silent for a few seconds before starting again. In the small amount of time you spent with Gandalf, did he explain to you the history of the Rings of Power?
Victoria nodded. Yeah, he did. I can even tell you the rigmarole:
"Three Rings for the Elven-kin under the sky,
Seven for the Dwarf–kings in their halls of stone,
Nine for the mortal Men doomed to die,
One for the Evil Lord on his dark throne
In the land of Mordor where Shadows lie.
One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them,
One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them." Which would be Frodo's, she added.
And what can you tell me about the other Rings?
Victoria snorted, "What's this, an oral test?" but in the end answered. The three Rings of the Elves are hidden. Still pure, but can't be used. The seven of the Dwarves have been caught or lost forever and the Nine of the Men are controlled by Sauron. She shuddered. Those things created the Nazguls. I know there are other lesser rings somewhere about, we may call them the rough drafts…But they aren't very powerful. Gandalf didn't say anything else about them.
"I wonder what she's getting at…Why all these questions if we both know the answers?"
Galadriel nodded. Exactly. As you know, the One Ring had been forged in Mordor by the Dark Lord…
Yeah, I know, but what's the point? The girl folded her arms in front of her chest.
The point, young witch, is that the One Ring was the last of the Great Rings of Power, but not the last ring that was forged. And in the Fellowship there is more than a Ring Bearer.
Victoria frowned. Would you mind being a little bit more clear for once in a while?
The Queen sighed. Maybe it is better if I tell you everything from the beginning… She sat down on a stone bench and invited her guest to do the same. Victoria was still diffident. The story of the Great Rings started thousands of years ago…You see, in that time an extraordinary thing happened. Some of the most powerful wizards were trying to create a spell to stop, or at least limit, Sauron's power while in another place, in your world to be more specific… Victoria startled, but Galadriel didn't seem to pay attention. …a young wizard, little more than twenty years of age, was trying to find a way to explore new worlds. The clash between the two magical forces opened a portal that brought the young wizard to our world.
So, the girl murmured. The way had already been opened…
Exactly, she nodded seriously. The first time was an accident…or fate. The wizard who came to Middle Earth was very powerful, even if he was young. But in spite of his age, he knew a lot of spells and incantations for he came from a family of witches and wizards. You would have called him a Pureblood, I think… Victoria nodded silently and Galadriel spoke again. Many years have passed, yet some still remember him. His name was Salazar Slytherin,
The young witch jumped on her seat, her eyes wide open. Salazar Slytherin? But it's…he…he was the founder of my House!
Galadriel did not speak immediately, waiting for the other to get over the shock. Yes, it was really him. She sighed. At the time he was very young. He would have founded Hogwarts, your school, only fourteen years later…and he would have taken the path of Evil only in his late days.
I already knew this, but…what happened exactly when he came here?
Another sigh. I do remember young Salazar: ambitious, cunning and proud…Just like the members of his House, after all. These traits are not evil…but much depends on the use one puts them on.
And what did he do? Victoria asked, swallowing hard.
In your world, Victoria, Slytherin are the villains, the Dark Wizards and Witches…But not here. Here we knew Slytherin before his downfall and we remember him as a great and good ally.
An ally… Victoria whispered to herself, her eyes shining with pride.
Galadriel nodded. Yes. He could have easily washed his hands of what was happening here or he could have gone over to the Shadows, which at the time covered almost the whole Middle Earth…But he didn't. He putted his magical skill out to the Last Allegiance's service and fought against Sauron by our side.
And…?
After the last battle, when the One Ring was taken away from Sauron, Slytherin asked to the same wizards who had brought him here to help him get back to his world. But the enchant was quite complex and to open the passage again, the Elves had to forge a last ring…
Oh, no! Another one! How could you…
Hush. The Last Ring, numbered with the lesser rings, was very different from the previous ones. Its only power was bringing one person from our world to yours and vice versa.
A kind of Portkey, then… Victoria murmured. She was starting to have some suspicions that, truth to be told, were quite clear.
Before coming back to his world, Slytherin swore to keep the Last Ring secret and that, if Middle Earth would have needed it, his descendants would have come back to help us. For our part, we assured him that both him and his people would have always been well received and would have always found shelter in our world. She turned to Victoria. Sauron awoke. And Slytherin kept his promise.
But I don't… Victoria didn't end her sentence, lowering her gaze on the ring she wore on her left hand. She took it off, laying it on the palm of her hand, and studied it carefully, as if she had never seen it before. So…this is the Last Ring? Slytherin's Ring? She shook her head. It sounds almost impossible to me. I mean, I don't even know where I got it!
You don't? Galadriel asked her sternly. Think about it…
Victoria closed her eyes, trying to concentrate. It's useless, I…
Don't think! Free your mind and let memories run like an untroubled river.
The girl let out a hoarse laughter. Untroubled? The river of my memories is all but untroubled!
Pay attention, the Lady ordered.
Victoria tried to relax, allowing her mind to wander and guide her along the paths of memory. So she found herself running through the Nights of Vigil, in the long month of May. "May, an unlucky month…I remember, yes, I remember what I saw in those nights, how could I forget it? One by one, I've seen all of them. First the six First Years, then up to the three Seventh Years. Then the last night, May 30th , I didn't sleep. I had lived the lives of all the last true Slytherin left...or most of them. There were still three left: Marcus, Adrian and…Draco. I stayed up all night thinking about them, remembering details of the lives of the others…All night? No, wait a moment, something isn't right…"
The big clock in the Common Room had slowly struck four tolling in the silence of that warm May night. Victoria Cross was lying on her bed without sleeping. She was thinking about a lot of things all together, about her Housemates who had died a month ago, about their blood that she felt running in her veins, about their memories in her head and their souls united with hers…The last Slytherin left, but for how long? How long before they bumped her off as well, just like they had done with the others?
She was staring at the canopy without seeing it.
Then she had started feeling…weird. She didn't know how to explain it. She had felt far, far away. She felt somebody or something guiding her, but she didn't hear any voice in her head. Slowly, she rose from the bed, got out of the room and started climbing down the stairs. The third step creaked under her foot and she thought about Draco.
She crossed the empty Common Room, where on April 27th they had had an heated discussion on fighting or not the war, and went out into the cold corridor. Thomas Rhys and Kevin Wolf, two First-year boys who could have become even worse than Fred and George Weasley if they had been allowed to grow up, always chose the time between four and half-past five a.m. for their pranks because they knew that both Filch the keeper and his watch-cat Mrs. Purr were sleeping, exhausted by a night spent patrolling the corridors.
She knew she had walked for a long time, but she couldn't tell which way she had taken. Victoria could remember the corridor along which Fourth-Year Ivor Northway had run out of embarrassment after kissing Fifith-Year Isobel Benyon; then the empty classroom where Sarah Kelso – Third Year – was tutored in Spells by Martha Tabrann, the only girl in Seventh Year. The hall were Patrick Fowler and Ianto Dawson had beaten each other, the picture near the stairs that Eunice Jenkins liked so much…She could remember a lot of places linked to many facts of life, but she didn't know if she had really been there or if it had been a distorted echo of the memories of her twenty-nine companions.
She remembered reaching the NorthernTower and touching a strange symbol on the wall, a snake wrapped around a circle, on which had been carved Elvish words. The wall had slid away, revealing a stair.
Then…then she had climbed up that stair to a room under the roof. The nightly air came in through hundreds and hundreds of hidden cracks, accompanied by the moonlight. On a table, in the middle of the room, there was something that shone upon a faded cushion of green velvet.
The Last Ring.
Slytherin's Ring.
She didn't remember putting it on and yet there it was. She didn't know what had happened. She just knew that she was in her dorm, lying on her bed and staring at the canopy as if she had never moved, as if it had been a dream. Eyes wide open, hands crossed on her chest…And the ring on her left ring finger.
Victoria blinked as if she was awaking from a strange dream…and it could have been a dream, if it hadn't been for the ring, undeniable proof that it was the truth. She gazed at Galadriel, who started speaking again. Salazar was a wise man. When they built Hogwarts, he hid the Last Ring in the Northern Tower.
Slytherins' refuge… Victoria murmured.
Yes. Only the members of his House who would have been worthy of it could find the ring and use it… for the first time, the she-elf smiled faintly. …and who better than you, Victoria, who keep the souls and the blood of the last Slytherins?
The girl didn't answer. She slipped a hand in her pocket and touched the keys of her house tied to the key-ring. Gandalf knew that my ring was the Last Ring… she whispered. Why didn't he tell me that?
He probably didn't have the time to do so, Galadriel tried to reassure her.
Again, Victoria didn't answer, thinking about that night in Moria, when he hadn't let her cast away her keys. There wasn't any doubt: he knew. He had wanted to tell her that if ever the mission had become too…too much, than she could go back to Earth. How…How did I end up here? I mean, I understood that it must have been my Ring, but I don't think that it works like the One Ring. I've been wearing it since May and I came here in October.
Traveling from a world to another is not so easy. You thought that the Floo Powder hadn't worked correctly… Victoria couldn't help an irritated sigh seeing how much exactly the Elf had seen in her mind. …but you were wrong. Remember? Before shouting your destination, you thought that any other place in the world would have been better than Hogwarts…and probably you are right about this, at least for what concerns you. The Ring felt your desire to stay away from that school and was by that activated, bringing you here to Middle Earth.
Victoria was silent, thousand of thoughts running through her head. Why are you telling me this?
You have the right to know it. You believe in choices, Victoria. Now you have to opportunity to make one.
She raised her eyebrows: Now?
No, not now. But remember: if one day you want to go back home, you will have the opportunity to do so. You will just have to wish for it and the ring will take you back.
Oh, I should live as long as an Elf does before reaching that point… she muttered. As she got to her feet, she asked more loudly, Can I go now?
Not yet.
She stopped and turned to the queen. Why?
Galadriel took a few steps toward her. I wish to warn you. I know that in your world there is a saying, "Birds of feather flock together." Be careful about the people you choose and associate with.
Victoria's eyes narrowed until they became two slits. What does Boromir have to do with all of this?
Galadriel was startled. She had certainly underestimated that girl, she was smarter than she had thought. He is a Man. And Men desire power more than anything. The Ring is calling him and he can't resist Its voice. You swore that you would protect the Ring Bearer from any kind of Evil, young witch. Will you do it even if Evil will come from within the Fellowship?
Let my father be, okay? He doesn't have anything to do with it. It's not his fault.
His downfall could be the ruin of all! Galadriel replied sternly.
Nobody ever said that he has to fall! Victoria shouted. You know a lot about my world and my bond with Boromir, don't you? Well, I'm surprised you managed to grow so old since you're so nosy!
Beware, girl…
Beware my foot! I don't care who you are, I'll protect those I love from anyone!
But will you be able to do so? Galadriel provoked her.
Victoria spoke with deadly calmness. Maybe I will and maybe I won't. But as long as I can breathe, I'll do everything in my power to protect them!
Like you did on the Caradhras? the queen replied. Victoria winced and she kept on speaking. I see you remember…don't you? Your soul was torn in two, you were caught in the middle…and didn't know to whom you should turn to. She stared at her icily. Your heart is torn in two and cannot be trusted.
It's better having a heart torn in two than having no heart at all! hissed the last Slytherin.
One day you will have to choose, Galadriel said.
WHAT DO YOU KNOW OF THAT!
They silently faced each other for long minutes, then Victoria spoke again. Let me and my father be. You have no right to torment us!
But it's my duty to make sure that your mission succeeds! Galadriel shot back.
Torturing two poor chaps is such a good way to do so! For the last time, let us be! With these last words, Victoria walked away, heading back to the camp. Duke followed her, flying by her side. She managed to calm down a little before reaching her destination, which was a good thing for someone was still up, waiting for her. The light was faint, yet she recognized him as soon as he got to his feet to go to meet her. Édnie… she hugged him as tight as she could, without saying anything else.
That was about time, Merilìs! You weren't coming back, I was so worried… Boromir stepped back a little, enough to look at her face as he still held her in his arms. What did Lady Galadriel want?
Nothing… the girl replied. …just lecture me for my behavior. It seems that she doesn't like to be called "Know-it-all" and "Gryffindor. "
Did she reproach you a lot? he asked.
She shrugged her shoulders. Naah, and then all the things she says to me go in at one ear and out at the other.
I'm glad to see that you take it so lightly. By the way, we have talked a lot while you were away. Tomorrow will be our last day here in Lothlorien.
Victoria let out a sigh of relief. Finally good news! Another sigh, quite different from the first. I told ya, Johnny Reb: the place is beautiful, but the farther away I am from the landlady the better I feel!
Boromir smiled conciliatory, softly caressing her cheek. Now go to sleep. You need your rest.
The girl nodded. Goodnight, édnie, She kissed his cheek and walked away.
Goodnight, little soldier.
Victoria slipped under the tent and came near her pallet, pushing back her blanket. A rustle made her turn around and she found herself gazing at Frodo's sleepy face.
Is that you, Vivi? He asked in a voice thick with drowsiness, trying to keep his eyes open.
Yes, Frodo, it's me. Don't you worry.
The Hobbit nodded. Good. I wanted to stay up and wait for you, but… he yawned …I couldn't make it.
Sssh, it doesn't matter. I'm here now, she whispered caressing his cheek. Go back to sleep.
All…all right. 'Night, Vivi, he murmured as he laid down and covered himself with his blankets.
Sleep tight, Frodo.
By their side, Pippin turned in his sleep, moaning softly. The witch smiled a little and slipped under her blanket. The last thing she saw before closing her eyes was her hawk, roosted on the branch of a tree.
Liked it? Hated it? Review so I'll now.