An:Holy Crap. Writers Block Sucks. Sorry for The wait. This Chapter Stinks. On With It.
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Chapter 46-The Prophecy
Our first day in the Caribbean consisted of us eating a breakfast of fresh fruits. And then we took a tour on the small island we were located at. As it turned out, it was a tropical paradise for wizards all over the world. The small village in the middle of the island was filled with small exotic shops and restaurants…it was amazing. We walked hand in hand through the village admiring everything around us. Char was turning her head trying to see everything worth seeing and pointing out things to me in glee. She was like a small kid laughing and being so fascinated by everything, I just loved watching her.
"Sirius look!" she cried and let go of my hand and made her way over to a stall filled with home made necklaces and other jewellery. I just chuckled and stood still looking at her. The way her hair fell down in her face and she brushed it away and tucked it behind her ear as she leaned down to look closer at the things at the stand. My eyes travelled along her neck and shoulder and down to her stomach…where a small bump was definitely noticeable, it wasn't big but if you looked closer you could definitely see it. I looked up again and saw an old lady approaching her and they started to talk, it was obviously her stall. I stood still just watching them and stepped a little closer so I could hear what they were saying.
"They are really beautiful" Char said smiling at the old lady whose eyes sparkled.
"My son makes them…he should be here any minute" she looked down at the necklace Char was admiring and her smile widened.
"You like that one?" I could almost hear the smile that had to be on Char's face when she asked that.
"I love it…its beautiful and so…so…unique"
"It's made out of shells found on this island and those pearls I found just a couple of miles out by some reefs." A male voice said and Chars' head turned towards the young guy and girl that I hadn't even noticed walking up to the stall. He looked a lot like the woman and he was smiling, the girl was smiling as well but obviously wasn't related to them.
"Really…I've always wanted to see some reefs" Char answered smiling. He grinned back and I could feel that familiar feeling of jealousy bubbling up inside me. I know I had nothing to worry about, this guy had to be three…maybe four years younger than us and well…Char and I were married now and she was carrying my child for Merlin's sake…but I couldn't help myself. It was like being jealous was a second nature to me when it came to her.
"I take tours there with my boat; I can take you there if you want. There are these stories about a haunted ghost ship lying around somewhere out there" he grinned trying to tempt her; it was working because I could see her smiled widen and she nodded.
"Seems like a good idea…"
"This is my handsome son, Aston; he is the maker of all these beautiful things. And that is his friend Deana. Aston, this is Charlotte, she is here on vacation…am I right?" the old lady interrupted smiling gleefully.
"Mama" he said rubbing the back of his head looking embarrassed, the girl looked slightly put off, by this time I decided enough was enough and I made my way towards them. Char just smiled at them both and her hand drifted towards her stomach and she said;
"Honeymoon, actually" the old lady looked crushed while Aston looked relieved as did Deana. By then I reached them and I lightly put my hand on her back, she turned and smiled at me.
"And here is my husband, this is Sirius. Sirius this is Gabrielle and her son Aston…they make these beautiful jewellery…look! And of course his friend Deana. And Aston said he could take us out to the reefs! Can we please go?" all my previous feelings went away as her pleading eyes turned to me and I gave her a grin and nodded to the three locals in front of us. The youngsters grinned at us both of them looking relieved while the old lady looked me up and down but a small smile slipped onto her face as she looked at us.
"Sure…why not, if it's safe…?" I trailed off my hand drifting to land above Chars' on her stomach. Aston followed it and realisation showed in his eyes and he grinned at me and confirmed that it was completely safe. He apparently used a lot of protective charms to keep all the tourists safe. I nodded in satisfaction when he repeated some charms that I have heard about and we decided to meet up in two hours by his boat. Char and I spent those two hours having a light lunch and relaxing on the beach. I watched as she danced in the waves squealing when the larger waves hit her thighs. And soon I joined her standing in the waves and watching the fishes swim by, the water was so clear here. Soon we heard a voice call our names and we watched as Aston came towards us in a middle sized boat. We went with him and slowly we started to move towards where he said the reefs were. I had never seen anything like it. The water was so clear that even if it was a few meters deep you could still clearly see the bottom. I could see different fishes in all kinds of colours swimming bye, and this was all from the boat! You can just imagine what it felt like once we got out to the reefs and under the surface. It was…in lack of better words; magical.
Our honeymoon continued pretty much like that, just relaxing and enjoying each others company.
Chars POV
Everything was pretty amazing on our honeymoon. We just relaxed for once and could devote our entire attention to each other. It was like we were living in our own little world. We explored the whole island, both on land and at sea thanks to Aston and his friends. But now it was over and done with and we were going back home. We arrived at the apparition point feeling rested and ready to get back to our normal lives. Who am I kidding…we wanted to turn around on the spot and go back! But the one thing that stopped us was the group of people approaching us, all of them smiling widely. I dropped my bags and was pretty much attacked by my friends. Lily reached me first, Izzy was a good second and after that they reached me at once.
"Char we've missed you so much!"
"You're so tan!"
"How was it?!"
"Look at your bump!" at the last one I laughed and said;
"Lily…you have one just like it!" she just laughed with me and we stood there having a group hug. I looked over at the guys where Sirius and James were doing a "man hug". The other guys just shook hands and then they started talking about the trip, the girls were bombarding me with questions as well. Suddenly a pair of arms wrapped around me and lifted my up. I let out a surprised yelp followed by amused laughing and Sirius annoyed voice saying;
"Prongs put her down" I smiled and turned around…once James sat me on my feet.
"Why hello Jamesie" he grinned and said;
"Hello Char, missed me?" I laughed and said;
"Why James, of course! I could barely make it those two weeks without your brilliant presence" he grinned smugly and gave me another hug.
"That's what I thought" he said smugly and everyone else groaned and rolled their eyes. That's when my line of sight landed on something hot pink. There in a hot pink robe-like jacket and black shirt and jeans stood Damien. His hair groomed as always and next to him was a brilliantly smiling Ethan Ryan. When Damien caught my eye we both broke out in huge smiles and started squealing.
"Darling!" we both exclaimed and then ran towards each other hugging and kissing cheeks. Then we started to talk really fast about the last two weeks while everyone else watched smiling, albeit looking rather confused. Somewhere in the midst of that I managed to greet Ethan. And then we all somehow managed to transport ourselves to a nearby restaurant where the laughter and conversation flowed. No one mentioned anything bad that had happened, we had all silently agreed to live this day in happiness, and dwell on everything else tomorrow. It was good to be home.
Two days later everything changed. There was a huge battle between order members and death eaters. Sirius and the other guys didn't know that we had been summoned. I knew that they would have tried to prevent us from coming otherwise. The duel had begun as a stake-out. Benjy Fenwick and Sturgis Podmore, they were supposed to keep an eye on the Bones family, Edgar Bones had said that he thought his house was being watched and he was right. When the clock stroke eleven a blast was heard from the house. Benjy rushed up with Sturgis on his heels. Everyone in the house had been killed and ten deatheaters still remained. Sturgis called for backup but Benjy threw himself into a duel with two of them. One of them was later revealed as Antonin Dolohov. Sturgis said that he heard a terrified scream and a wave of magic hit him, and Benjy was no more. By now some other members had arrived and the scene and the battle that erupted…no one had yet seen one like it. When I arrived I was nearly hit by, what I thought was, a stunner. There was no time to think, just throw spells left and right. Somehow we managed to get the upper hand but blasts could still be heard from the Bones backyard. Lily and I foolishly went to investigate and see if we could help. We found Fabian and Gideon bravely and skilfully throwing spell after spell at the five deatheaters that were surrounding them. We couldn't hold back a gasp and one of the deatheaters turned towards us. Fabian noticed and screamed for us to move, and quickly distracted the deatheater again. I turned to call for help when an agonized scream did it for me. I swirled around and the scene that lay before me made tears spring to my eyes. Gideon was helplessly staring at the dead body of his brother but his shocked stillness didn't last long. He gave a yell of fury and spells flew out of his wand faster than bullets from a muggle gun. Madeye moody arrived beside us and we started to throw spells at the remaining deatheaters, but they were all focused on the remaining Prewett twin… there was nothing we could have done. I hate to say it, but we couldn't have done anything. Nothing could have saved Gideon. But seeing the life vanish out of his furious eyes was nothing I wanted to see. We managed to capture and wound only three deatheaters…when they managed to injure three of us and kill six. Reality of the war had slapped us all in the face hard. I will never forget Molly Weasley's tearstained face as we buried her brothers…our friends. Two heroes of the war that soon would be forgotten by the masses, but not by us.
A couple of weeks after the devastating duel we had just entered February and I was summoned to Dumbledore's office. When I burst in a failed to notice the black clad figure in the corner of the office and strode strait up to the desk. Where Dumbledore was sitting looking tired but sipping tea like it was any other day.
"You wanted to see me professor" I stated and sat when he motioned for the chair in front of the desk.
"Yes…would you like some tea, and I must say that you look absolutely glowing, even during these sad times" I smiled politely and took the cup from him.
"Is this about the prophecy?" I asked him bluntly, I knew that he couldn't have any other news to tell me. I had sort of figured out that it had to have something to do with that blasted prophecy. A draping voice with a hint of astonishment in it suddenly interrupted anything Dumbledore was about to say;
"What is she doing here? And how does she know about the prophecy?" I slowly turned around and looked at the figure of Severus Snape looking back and forth between me and Dumbledore. My thoughts were swirling…why on earth is Dumbledore reviling my knowledge to Snape of all people? Yes I might have a slight grudge towards him thanks to my husband and friends but I knew why he acted like he did. I couldn't judge him completely, but I still didn't understand Dumbledore's motives in this. But I thought that it would be best to not question him in Snape's presence. I looked at Dumbledore, I too was curious, how was he going to explain my presence to Snape?
"I asked her to come here Severus, and I am afraid that that is irrelevant information" he trailed of airily and reminded me of how I though Luna Lovegood must be.
"Irrelevant! Sir…" Snape started but Dumbledore quieted him with one single look. He then turned to me and motioned with his hand for Severus to sit in the chair next to me. I silently watched as he sat down, he apparently couldn't pass this opportunity to gain information.
"Yes, Mrs. Black…" Snape made an almost in-audible sound of surprise and I raised an eyebrow at him.
"Excuse me…I had simply forgotten that you married Black…" he sneered at the mention of the name and I sighed. Dumbledore just looked at us and then continued without any other interruptions. Apparently Trelawney had now spoken to Dumbledore. And Snape had overheard them. The prophecy was now out in the open…well almost.
"But it is still awhile until we can tell the…ones involved about this new development" Dumbledore said looking me right in the eyes.
"What!? What are you talking about? I can't tell them about this…warn them…" I rambled on, furious. He held up a hand to quiet me and I glared at him.
"I will reveal this…eventually. But not yet, now is not the time…" I stood up and started to pace.
"Not the right time…not the right time? How can this not be the right time? The sooner they know the sooner we can come up with a plan to save them!" I ranted on and paced the room in a fit.
"It is not the time yet. I have a plan worked…"
"A plan? You and your bloody plans! What is this wonderful plan of yours Dumbledore? Don't think that I haven't noticed that you have been very careful not to mention the whole extent of this plan of yours!" by now I was breathing heavily and stared angrily at the man in front of me. I had completely forgotten about the other presence in the room until he spoke.
"I think that you should calm down Mrs. Black, I couldn't help but notice your present condition…this stress is not good for you" the drawling voice was right and I knew it. I put a hand on my now noticeable bump, I was about 16 weeks along after all, and sat down staring at Dumbledore. He nodded gratefully to Snape and then turned back to me.
"The plan can not be revealed quite yet. And I would appreciate of you didn't tell anyone about this meeting, or what has been mentioned."
"I'm sorry but I don't know how to do that. I can't lie to my friends…my family! Sirius will take one look at me and know something's wrong and then manage to get it out of me! I can't keep secrets from him, I can't lie to him!" I said tiredly and rubbed my eyes. This was all true, Sirius would know if something was wrong and so would Lily and Damien. I never expected Dumbledore to tell me to keep quiet. Even Snape looked bewildered; none of us understood Dumbledore's motives.
"I expected this. So I am terribly sorry but I am going to have to put you under a spell" my head snapped up and I stared at him.
"A spell? What kind of spell…" this sounded strange and very uncomforting. I was weary of letting Dumbledore do any spells on me…but somehow he talked me into it. it was an ancient spell that wouldn't cause me any harm but it prevented me from telling anyone who didn't know about the prophecy on beforehand about it. it also made me not show any signs of knowing something, no one would know a thing. I left the office at the same time as Snape in low spirits. When we reached the Hogwarts grounds and were about to part ways I turned to him and said;
"Severus…I know that you don't like me and we haven't gotten along in the past…mostly because of my husband and our friends. Mostly James and Sirius but still…" he looked at me curiously and nodded with a sneer on his face when I mentioned the two marauders.
"But…I would like to ask you, well I know that I don't have any right to ask anything of you since I haven't treated you any better than they did. But this is for Lily okay, yes I know about your former friendship she told me" he looked surprised and sad when I mentioned Lily. I knew he still loved her, and always would.
"What is your point?" he asked looking warily at me.
"I suggest we form an alliance…if Dumbledore reveals his plans to you, will you tell me?" he looked like he was considering it but still asked;
"And what could you possibly offer me in exchange?"
"I can tell you things…I know things that I shouldn't, although I cant explain why. I can also try to patch things up with Lily…at least try" I stated slowly when a strange gleam entered his black eyes. He surveyed me silently and then nodded;
"If Dumbledore reveals anything to me I will tell you…but only because it might help Lily…" I nodded and we shook hands, an alliance with Severus Snape…well that's one thing I would never have thought I would make. But I knew that I could not trust Dumbledore blindly and I had a feeling that when the time came…he wouldn't tell me his plans like promised. Well at least I didn't have to worry about lying to my friends even if it pained me knowing something they didn't know.