So...here I am again. And now things will start to get more tangled.
Beta: lil'hawkeye3
'this is parseltongue'
/this is mermish/
this is a thought
- and everything is an excess of italic. You know the disclaimer - the fact that this is FANfiction makes everything pretty obvious.
Anya hadn't been able to sleep at all that Friday night. It had barely been past three o'clock in the morning when she got up, deciding that her endeavour would bear no fruits. Sorting her robes out, she chose a dark green gown with buttoned cuffs and a heavy cloak – the weather in Scotland at night wasn't very warm during the middle of September- and walked into the bathroom in order to soak in some hot water.
After slipping out of their room around four, Anya made sure that nobody was at the common room – snogging couples could sometimes take a while – before hissing to the entrance door. It wasn't a secret that she was a Parselmouth, but only Tom and she knew that all doors in the Slytherin dorm could be opened by a simple order in the language. It was a rule they had learnt the year before: Parseltongue was the main language of the dungeons.
"Miss Donbyre, are you sure you should be out of your bed right now?" A voice asked behind her.
"Mr. Grubb!" She exclaimed, looking at the overweight ghost of the Victorian man. "You won't rat me out, will you?"
"Of course not, young lady. Gentlemen don't do such things to young women. No, of course not. When they find one out of their beds, they insist that they should accompany them on their quests! Where are you going? I must ask."
"I'm going to the Great Lake, Edmund. I wish to talk a little with its inhabitants."
"Perhaps I should allow you to continue alone." He answered. "I rather dislike the outdoors. But I can call Captain Digswell," he offered kindly.
"There will be no need. Griffin Beak is receiving some of his friends at the moment, including Banshee's Grin. I guess he won't prefer the copy over the authentic." She stated, taking the map she had drawn the year before out of her robes. "I have this; you shouldn't worry."
"As you wish, dear lady."
The dim light provided by the night sky's stars brightened her way as the soft lumos charm at the tip of her wand hovered over the magical map, guiding her way. She reached the narrow stone staircase that linked the Lookout Tower to the Dungeon Corridor and the Entrance Dungeon.
"Point me exit Great Lake!" She enchanted, watching as her wand swirled around and pointed to her feet. Apparently, the nearest exit wasn't following through the bridge at the lookout tower. She walked down the staircase, feeling the atmosphere getting wetter and the walls getting barer.
It seemed that her spell had failed with her, however, as the steps ended in front of a wall of a tiny room, with a green snake tapestry in it. A dead end. She huffed, outraged that her wand wasn't working as it was supposed – but when she did the same pointing spell and the wand pointed to the wall, Anya knew it wasn't a coincidence. Her wand didn't fail twice.
'Revelio!' And so the tapestry revealed its secrets – a knob near her knees, which opened a tiny door to a bare cave. Anya grinned, promising to herself to add that cave to her map. It was a narrow but long cave, and if her spells were anything to go by, a cave that lead to an exit.
She wandered through it with her path illuminated, decidedly following the path she knew to lead somewhere. It couldn't be that far. Most caves of Hogwarts weren't that huge, and she had found many of them. This particular one was no exception. Her vision soon caught the natural light looming over her head, and she looked up to the opening, which was hidden by a bush. The gentle sound of water indicated that the exit had really led her to the Great Lake. Very simple.
Anya got over the tip of her toes, realising that yes, it would be quite easy to fly out the opening, and that yes, there was nobody around to see her floating out of the ground. But, obviously, she had to stumble over a rock in the ground and fall over herself.
She continued to tumble, sliding over a hole she hadn't noticed before. Anya couldn't contain the shriek of surprise at the abrupt fall – adrenaline taking over her heart as she fell through the endless unknown. She held her wand tightly to her chest, because if she lost or snapped it, sneaking out in the middle of the night would conclude to have been her worst idea ever.
She landed on hard stone, out of breath – her wand intact, but not her skin. Several bruises and cuts bled and tarnished her clothes due to the harsh fall. "Episkey. Tergeo. Reparo," She charmed, healing her minor injuries while clearing the blood out of her robes and mending the slashes on them.
The cave where she was was far more inhospitable than the former, and colder; she could tell even though heating charms circled her. The ceiling was very low, in a way that obliged her to hunch forwards as she stood up. She reached towards the enclosed walls of the narrow tunnel because the uneven ground made her steps unstable.
Anya checked out the passage through which she had fallen and agreed that yes, she could still fly out of wherever she had landed herself. Satisfied with that, she left it for later.
There was probably something very Gryffindorish in exploring possible unknown grounds in the middle of the school, which could be the home of several deadly creatures. Still, as she was neither truly hurt nor worried over escaping, she was tempted into a bit more wandering.
The Slytherin witch had never heard about such a cave in any of the books she had read about the school. Well, actually, she had never heard about a passage at the end of the dungeons staircase, so it probably has been built for Parselmouths exclusively.
A hole in the middle of the grounds was probably more obvious – she would have to investigate it, maybe there were notice-me-not charms in it, aside of a small bush? Tom would find it interesting…maybe this cavern ought to be the way she could be freed of his inquiries about her visions – which had turned even more confusing?
Her most recent one had involved a frozen lake: her body kept hitting it, while she struggled to free herself from…a snake? And then several dead bodies were trying to drag her into the water while at the same time they were burnt by a big fire serpent?
The chamber she suddenly found herself in was quite similar to the one in her vision. It was wide and although still low-celled, she could maintain her posture high now. The ground was bare, but not difficult to walk on. But the most breath-taking aspect of it was the ceiling.
The ceiling was water.
Not frozen water, but liquid water – not falling from the ceiling, but neither quite contained by something solid. When she reached for it, her hand dived in it. And when she took it away, it was still wet, proving that she wasn't hallucinating. She was at the bottom of the lake, the dry bottom of the Great Lake.
It was dark in the room, but that could expected considering how deep she was. The only light source was still her wand, and it illuminated the water beautifully. She was sure she could make out the shadows of the Giant Squid there.
How deep was she, by the way? The Great Lake had a colony of Merpeople and a Giant Squid, it should be as deep at least a thousand feet. She hadn't noticed she had gone so low…a flight of a thousand feet, how exciting.
She wouldn't be able to get out at all.
Now the prospect of exploring wasn't so exciting. Fucking Gryffindors and their contagious, adventurous spirits: this was all Harfang Longbottom's fault! She'd die there…she had known how things would end up and she still had insisted in doing them. Her skeleton would lie at the bottom of the Great Lake for centuries, until one unadvised student fell down there again.
Anya was panicking, as she was plainly aware of it. But she knew she wasn't capable of flying out such great distance… Now she had to be reasonable. People would miss her and go searching for her as soon as the day started. At least she had her wand- she could send red sparks through the hole. The Vermillious Charm wasn't magically tiring, so performing it several times would be no trouble. And if that didn't work, there were countless tracking charms that could be used to find her, if this place wasn't unplottable.
She doubted it was – surely, to the outside world it was unplottable; after all, this still could be counted as Hogwarts's grounds... But why would someone try to hide this? And if that didn't work…something would.
Anya only had to wait for the school to rise with the sun. That would take some time, she supposed.
Merlin, she was so much in trouble. Tom'd throw a fit.
The raven haired witch looked up the ceiling, feeling a crazy idea forming in the corner of her brain. Maybe if she…
Her head was suddenly compressed by a heavy body of water, and she was sure that her head would explode. And her eardrums, and her eyes. The air left her mouth at the same moment, and Anya took her head out of the lake, gasping out loud. Bad idea, she should have first tried a bubble-head charm. What a deadly idea she had. If the lack of air didn't kill her, the water pressure would. That was what? Thirty times bigger than the air pressure she was used to?
Well, that was impossible. She would have died instantly if that had been the case – actually, she doubted she'd be able to plunge her head. Anya knew that Merpeople couldn't have an internal pressure so high. Perhaps the water was enchanted? Or who knew, magical bodies were incredible resistant to high pressures?
There had to be an explanation. But now, she had to get out. "Ebulbio." She said, conjuring a full-bodied bubble around her body. "Premo." She pressurized her body and the bubble to the maximum she could without warming herself. "Ascendio." She said, pushing herself into the ceiling.
The bubble around her body went through the water surface, a cold immediately took over her. Why hadn't she thought of these? She would freeze to death. And making fire in the bubble would consume oxygen. "Fiendfyre."
The heat of the cursed fire suddenly warmed her cheeks, but thanks Merlin her hedgehog of fire – she had chosen that specific animal because of the shape of it, of course – was around the bubble. That was a brilliant idea in an absolute mental-deranged way. Fiendfyre couldn't be extinguished by water. Except for the fact that she had to keep her magic concentrated in keeping the wild curse, as letting it loose would simply make her unable to cancel it; which meant that she would have to swim all her way up instead of using the Ascendio charm again.
Anya sighed, promising to herself that the next night she had troubles to sleep, she would spend the night staring into the dark, like everyone else did. She wasn't even a great swimmer, for goodness's sake! And it wasn't an exactly easy thing to do when you were locked in a bubble of air and fire.
Of course, her natation soon attracted the glances of some Merpeople. Which would have been great and all, considering she had fled from her dorm to speak to them, but invading their lake surrounded by a mammal of fire wasn't exactly the best first meeting – their violent reactions to her advances told her. And by violent reactions, she meant they trying to poke her with a spear.
/I come in peace!/ She shouted in Mermish. /Please, I wish you no harm!/ That was effective in making them to stop their attempts of harming her, although she was almost sure they were more surprised with her speaking their language than considering her words. The feral looks in their eyes gave that away.
A female selkie approached her, a grindylow perched on her left shoulder, a beautiful deadly-looking trident in her right. /What are you doing here, pup? And where did you learn our language? Answer the questions of Merchieftainess Murcus./
/I'm trying to reach the surface, Chieftainess. Dylan Marwood has taught me all I know./ She explained, trying to keep her flames in check as she spoke. Still, one of the hedgehog's spins reacted violently to a merman who had gotten too close, burning his hand and instantly making all selkies surrounding her to point their spears to her. The creature whined behind her, and peacefulness left the merchieftainess face.
Her trident expanded, growing up in length enough to be held against Anya's throat without keeping the female in a close range. She cancelled the curse with difficulty, and the merchieftainess broke her bubble at the same moment, as it had only been held whole by the fire. The chief of the village grabbed her arm amuckly and the witch felt her body being dragged through the lake quickly.
Anya took a deep breath when her lungs finally absorbed some air and her arms reached for the ground. She was safe. A bit panicked and trembling like a damned chihuahua, but safe. She looked at the merchieftainess who had saved her life, albeit she had done it in the harshest way possible. But Anya understood her reason's, she had harmed her people, even if unintentional.
The female selkie gave a shriek, which could be understood as: /Never dare to invade our village again./
Anya screeched some thanks as well. The merchieftainesss ignored her and disappeared in the waters of the lake again. Well, she was sure that had been the worst first impression she had ever made.
The Slytherin took a look around where she had been abandoned. A tiny island near the lakeshore, which was linked to the grounds by a shallow, submerged path. It was covered by underbrush, yellow bloomed gorse shrubs she had seen from below – now she knew why no distracted student had ever fallen in the hole that led to the underbelly of the lake; she supposed not many of them had swam in the Great Lake, and those who had had never found the isle.
Anya laughed out loud in a half-insane manner that was justified. She was tired, she was frozen, she was drenched, and she had a cut from a trident on her throat. And on top of that, the sun was just beginning to rise on the horizon. She lay among the bushes, appreciating the feeling of her chest rising and falling while trying to gather her forces and her magic.
"Calio." She said, performing the hot-air charm all over herself when she finally felt able to. "Reparo. Episkey."
She was incredible hungry, even more so than tired. Deciding that doing nothing in the middle of the Great Lake was counterproductive, Anya stood up. She crossed the lake by foot, wading in the shallow path, her feet splashing water everywhere while she held the hem of her robes high to avoid them being re-soaked.
She walked pass the Durmstrang Towers, hoping that nobody had already awoken there, and if someone had, that this person wasn't looking through the winter specifically to find an individual outside so early. It wasn't that she looked that bad. Her hair was a mess and she probably wore a tired expression, but her robes were decent and she was dry; which was more than someone in that situation could expect. However, she really thought that if someone was looking, this person would found curious someone coming out of the lake in the beginning of the morning.
No such luck, apparently.
"Nun, schauen Sie, die große Nastya Donbyre! Magst du schwimmen?" He questioned her enjoyment in swimming. "Ich Abneigung es nicht." She agreed with a suspicious glance to his lack of reaction.
"Mögen Sie Glücksspiel?" He inquired once again, this time about her tastes in gambling.
"Ich ziehe es andere Dinge zu spielen." She answered, lightly offended, as she really did not enjoy any kind of bets.
"Verzeihen Sie mir, ich hörte darüber." He asked her forgiveness. "Ich wollte nur fragen, ob Sie eine Wette zu platzieren wollte - das Interscholastic Quidditch-Turnier. Ich denke nicht." Apparently, she had just missed her chance of betting about the Interschool Quidditch Tournament. She could live without that.
She smiled to him only, while he continued, accompanying her to the castle. "Ich habe versucht, Klavier einmal zu possln." She didn't recognise the word she had used, but she assume it was about a piano, playing it? "Sie befinden sich im Orchester, sind Sie nicht?" He asked her if she was in the Orchestra.
"Ich spiele das Cello." She explained.
"And your parents live in the Krems? They are the Donbyre compositors, aren't they?" He asked. She had to contain her breath of relief when he finally left the German in exchange for the English, just in time, one would say. "Yes."
"Ach, Fräulein Donbyre! You really should visit your parents more times. One would think that you have spent your whole life in Berlin by the way you speak!" He grinned at her, and Anya felt her insides froze as he winked to her with that malicious grin of his.
He patted her on her back, leaving her behind in real panic. She should have answered something.
He couldn't have found out, could he? Well, he had. And he was obviously feeling ready to use it as a weapon; why did all the sick students found her interesting? First Kneeler, now this guy. But Kneeler knew they were Parselmouths, Meier…Meier's knowledge was far more dangerous.
Obviously, Dumbledore knew that they were orphans, which was probably far more than this Austrian boy knew. But she trusted Dumbledore. If he knew they were lying their identities, he would indulge them. Perhaps he would try some counselling, but that was it. Dumbledore was a half-blood in the lighter sides of politics. None pureblood supremacist – the people who mattered, according Tom – would hear him. Actually, if he spoke, they would find it even more untruthful.
But Dominik Meier? She knew nothing about him. And if the gleam in his eyes was any indicative, he wouldn't be that passive.
She imagined an expression of disgust on Dorea's face when she looked at her. On Ragnar's, on Abraxas's, on Orion's, on Brianna's. And those were only the Slytherins. Harfang, Laws, Charlus, Sean, Deodor, Maeve, they weren't pureblood supremacist, but what would they say if they knew of her lies? Laws's mother, Maeve and Sean were half-bloods; what they would think of her standing up for her origins?
I'm not upset that you lied to me, I'm upset that from now on I can't believe you.
If you do not tell the truth about yourself you cannot tell it about other people.
Losing her friends over lies.
Oh, what a tangled web we weave...when first we practice to deceive.
Selkies are half-seals so a baby seal is a pup. And I love Austria, but Meier is a bastard - that isn't negotiable. Well, Tom is also a bastard but he is one of the protagonists so...Reviews inspire me and thanks for reading.