Chapter 7: The Legend of the Cursed Pair
Isabella had to use every last bit of energy left in her body to (heavily) exercise self-restraint, as she stood there, watching Claiborne, Remus and Peter bawl their eyes out from uncontrollable laughter.
"Wow. Reckon that's the last time you lot are ever hearing ANYTHING about my life, then," came Isabella's steely voice, before she defiantly folded her hands across her chest. Poor Peter, though, fell like a brick to the floor, as he slipped off the branch of a low-hanging tree near the Black Lake, laughing harder than ever at her forced belligerence.
This is going to be a long day.
"I'm sorry, but I physically can't seem to unsee the image in my head!" Claiborne was practically sobbing for good measure now, hardly caring about the strange stares she was getting from fellow students around them.
"But, are you SURE she said Dumbledore?" Remus asked, wiping away strained tears from laughing too hard and exchanging a helpless glance with a soon-to-be-dead Claiborne. "Was it really Dumbledore crooning away in the middle of the forest, wearing a tutu and reeking of gum-disease?!"
"You're almost forgetting the part where he was part-gorilla!" chimed in Peter and petulantly held his hands up like a monkey. At this point, Isabella thought she had finally managed to STOP time because, all three of their faces had suddenly frozen with their eyes scrunched tightly shut and mouths hanging open in laughter, forming some of the most ridiculous expressions she'd ever seen!
Isabella could not believe THIS was the kind of reception that her truly gut-wrenching, blood-curdling, almost mind-wrecking dream was getting.
"That... NO! That's... That's not even close to how I described it, Peter!" she barked through gritted teeth and gave Peter a hard slap to the side of his arm. "I'm telling you! It was the scariest thing I've ever seen! It was honestly TERRIFYING! He was going to attack me! And the SNAKE...!" but she had already lost her friends once again to another round of infuriating laughter. And this time, Claiborne was positively turning purple in the face from not having taken a breath in too long. "Oh, how I wish you three choke and die," Isabella whisper-yelled at the three of them and hotly gathered up her Astronomy notes and partly-finished star charts that she was working on before her idiot friends unleashed their third eye of STUPID!
"And where do you think you're going?!" Peter asked before cheekily snatching her bag from her grasp, much to her annoyance.
"Yeah, does the Star Chaser not like her company?!" grinned Remus tugging her by the hand and pulling her back to the ground next to him.
"Not like your company?" Isabella repeated, feigning utter disbelief. "Why, you must be barmy as a bandicoot to think that!" she said, huffing at Remus's teasing grin.
"I must say though, I am so lucky to have you as my best friend, Isabella G. Williams, you are a godsend!" she said, chuckling at the boiling red face of her friend whilst giving a scowling Isabella a side squeeze.
It was nearing mid-day on Saturday, the day after all hell had come crashing in on the unsuspecting bunch of Gryffindor fifth-years, and Isabella, and a few other similarly brain-burned students, had flocked down to the grounds that had received its first dusting of snow for the season. And for Isabella of all people, to bring down her Astronomy homework on a glorious day like this, was extremely out of character so to speak, because she did not believe in getting things done within a reasonable amount of time in hand—everything, obviously, needed to be driven by last-minute panic! The downside to her occasional stepping out of character, however, was that she often tended to overlook some of the most obvious outliers around her. She was so preoccupied with her thoughts that morning that, she had somehow (miraculously) been oblivious to the puffy, red eyes of the four mischief-makers from her year, and that's not all. She actually had the nerve to leave Mary and Alice in charge of Lily, who had refused to leave the dorm.
Maybe she really was overthinking this.
"So, how is she?" Remus finally asked, his face suddenly looking grim and worried.
"How do you think?" said Claiborne. "We don't think she is ever going to recover from something like this."
"Obviously not, but, has she decided on how she's going to deal with it?" he pressed on in a determinedly casual voice; "Is going to go the conventional way...?" he asked and for some reason it looked like he was struggling to keep his calm as he waited for a reply.
"I think she made it quite clear how she was going to handle this?" said Isabella, giving him a knowing look. "And I hope you boys don't have any genius plans in the works too...!" she said, but her voice trailed off as her eyes fell on something flaming-red in the distance, beyond the lake. It was unmistakably an angry-looking Lily stalking away from a desperate Severus and a chill ran up her spine. The others had turned their heads in the direction of the castle too and visibly stiffened; Remus actually jumped up to his feet at the sight.
Shrugging pointedly at Isabella he muttered, "Well, you hoped wrong, Izzy," whilst gracing her with a grim-cum-satisfied look. And despite the wisdom that oozed from his features, the mischievous determination that hung about in his eyes made her gape disbelievingly at his guts. "Go on then," he said, smiling irritably at her. Giving him a disapproving shake of the head, Isabella jumped up to her feet, grabbed her bag and, without thinking, stormed in their direction; she was NOT going to let Severus talk his way out of this one this time.
She could feel the blood pumping in her ears as she ran like a maniac towards her best friend, mentally making a thoroughly badass speech for Severus.
"...and I've apologised and apologised..."
"...I came down for some air, Severus!"
"Lily, why are you always this difficult?!"
"Difficult...? I'm DIFFICULT?! After what you did to me yesterday, I'm surprised you thought I'd be anything else!" her voice echoed across the white landscape.
Severus's face fell almost immediately. From the looks of it, it was clear even to Isabella that Lily and Severus had grown so far apart, they'd possibly never see eye-to-eye anymore; their differences had never been this evident ever before... Huffing sadly, he remained motionless for a second, looking haggard and helpless beyond measure. Isabella now, had slowed down to a strut and watched on, quite unsure if she wanted to interrupt them just yet. Lily, on the other hand, met Isabella's eyes and motioned at her to wait a bit whilst she dealt with him alone.
"What's happened to us...?" he finally asked, letting his hands fall feebly to his sides. "Do you even remember the last time we had a good laugh, Lily?" he muttered, his eyes almost begging her to see the light. "Of late, we can't seem to survive two full days without ending up arguing and fighting over something or the other..."
"And you're blaming me for that, aren't you, Sev?" Lily shot back, this time stopping short in her tracks and eyeing him murderously, waiting for an answer. Unfortunately, it only made Severus more frustrated than ever.
"Well, I... I just feel you've gotten awfully... well," he said, biting the side of his cheek as if contemplating on whether it was a good idea or not to say it aloud. "Well, lately, I feel you've gotten awfully emotional!"
That did it (Isabella almost smacked her head in frustration at Severus's choice of words).
Lily closed her eyes and processed the words again to see if she'd heard him right. Shaking her head in confusion, she opened her mouth, "Ex-CUSE ME?!" she yelled through gritted teeth, glaring daggers in his direction. "You let Mulciber impersonate you...!"
"...which I'm extremely sorry for!"
"...you made me believe I was being escorted to the party by YOU!"
"...he told me he just wanted to get in somehow, Lily, I swear, I meant no harm!"
"He felt me up my front, Severus!" she screamed, drowning his voice out entirely. Isabella quickly walked up to her side and took her hand in hers while giving Severus a death glare that could have burned the slime off of his hair!
Shaking her head lightly, she glowered menacingly at him, allowing the anger to burn right through her as she did. "You don't get to call me 'emotional'. Not now, not ever," she said, this time in a calmer, but more dangerous voice than ever.
He sighed resignedly, giving her one look of pure defeat. "You're right, I did you wrong in a big way and I deserve every bit of your wrath. But, please, oh please, Lily, don't be angry about it, I beg of you... What do I have to do to make it right? What could I possibly do to undo what's already been done?" he said, eyeing her pleadingly. "I miss you, Lily. I miss the old you... I miss my best friend..."
"That's laughable considering you put her in danger less than twelve hours ago, Snape," Isabella said, knowing fully well that, if she didn't intervene, she'd end up watching Lily forgiving him one more time and giving him yet another chance. "Leave her alone."
"I don't recall ever talking to you, Williams!"
"Eat slugs, Snape!" she yelled back before dragging away a miserable-looking Lily, no doubt, torn between forgiving him and seething with rage at the same time.
- O -
On their way up to their wing, Lily and Isabella had run into an unusual number of teachers, including McGonagall, but she saw no sign of Lily ever approaching them to report the previous night's incident, making it that much more bothersome for Isabella as she envisioned the boys taking matters into their own hands, the idiots. As they climbed through the portrait hole, they were greeted by loud afternoon chatter ensuing from inside, as fellow students either studied together, practiced spellwork or wasted precious time irresponsibly lounging in front of the fireplace (Edgar, James and Sirius, obviously). Cocking his head up from the Muggle magazine that he was staring at (let's not get into the details of WHAT he was staring at for the moment), Sirius cracked a smile and darted his hand up in the air, as if that was enough to veer them magically towards him. Going by Lily's current mood and the fact that Remus had discretely made her privy to their plan later tonight, Isabella thought it would be a great idea to spend time with the Marauders now more than ever.
'Do NOT ruffle her up!' she mouthed in Sirius's direction as she dragged a defunct Lily beside her. Sirius, for his part, reassured her by deciding to blow a kiss in her direction and unfortunately, it had quite the OPPOSITE effect and ended up riling Isabella up instead!
"I can't believe they talked you into slacking off this way too, Edgar," said Isabella, fanning her red face as she slumped into a couch as far away from Sirius as possible.
"You know, you may not like them, but the boys do have a point," he said, sniggering in James's direction. "It's all about confidence!" he said, shrugging with a hint of swagger. "You attack any spell with CONFIDENCE and you shall never fail!"
Sirius wiped off invisible tears of happiness whilst staring at Edgar like he was his long-lost love. "There's nothing more to teach you, mate!"
"Golden words, brother," he replied, hi-fiving a very satisfied-looking Sirius.
"How many times do you have to add powdered moonstone before the potion turns pink, Edgar? Also, do you add the syrup of hellebore before or after the potion turns purple?" asked Lily, challenging him almost immediately. Huffing frantically, he looked wide-eyed in Sirius's direction, who looked severely taken aback as well. Jerking his head to one side and suffering from a mild case of epilepsy, Sirius appeared to be glaring wildly in Edgar's direction, undeniably asking him to abort the mission and flee. Giving the group one last look of pure horror, Edgar bolted out of his chair and ran up the stairs to grab his copy of the Potions textbook.
"You're a sadist, that's what you are!" scowled Sirius, before throwing his legs back up on the table and crossing his hands behind his head.
"Knock it off, Sirius," came James's solemn voice before Isabella could ask Sirius shove it up.
"Say that to Grumpy here!" he exclaimed, pouting petulantly at an exasperated James. "What's up with her this time?" he asked Isabella.
"Severus."
James instantly went livid in the face as he balled his hand into a fist and gritting his teeth for full measure.
Sirius gaped in shock as well. "Not planning on getting him back on the train, is she?"
"No, Sirius, come on!" Isabella said, frowning at him.
"Tell me I'm wrong," he said, defiantly crossing his arms across his chest.
"It's complicated, Sirius," Lily said.
"What a load of horse dung," James muttered loud enough for everyone to hear before locking eyes with a deadly-looking Sirius as if to say, 'Time for Plan B.'
"James..." Lily started exasperatedly.
"I don't care," he said, waving her off immediately. It was then that Isabella realised James had not once looked in Lily's direction in all this time.
"Fine! Suit yourself!" she hissed and dashed up the stairs too.
As soon as Lily had disappeared, Sirius jumped up from his couch and threw himself in the space between Isabella and James, much to her annoyance.
"When will she learn?" James asked through gritted teeth to no one in particular.
"It's... not your... concern!" she managed to say as she wrestled with Sirius's heavy hand that had wound around her neck for some godforsaken reason! "Look, James..." she said, finally managing to wriggle out of his death grip, "can't you —"
"No, I cant," he said flatly. "She's the one high on Amortentia, Izzy, not me!"
Isabella snorted loudly. "I wouldn't believe that, if I were you," she said, rolling her eyes most dramatically. "You of all, should know better, if you ask me."
James shook his head exasperatedly. "All I know is, from this second on, it's either Snivelly or me..."
"I'd choose neither!" guffawed Sirius from the side.
"For the sake of Merlin's pants, Sirius!" Isabella exclaimed in annoyance.
"I'm not joking, though," James continued on, looking grimmer than ever. "She better choose who she prefers getting annoyed by going forward. I'm all of done with Lily and her stupidity..."
"Ten Sickles says he'll go back to drooling over her neck before the week starts!" Sirius whispered in Isabella's ear and James almost launched himself on top of Sirius, making him yelp in playful fear.
To get buried under two very heavy bodies that wrestled with one another was the least of Isabella's expectations for a relaxed afternoon. But, despite everything, after the two lunatics had gone back to grinning densely at each other, she heard herself say, "You're on," most discreetly to Sirius, who gladly took her up on the bet.
Sniggering excitedly, Isabella pulled out The Rise & Fall Of The Sacred Age from her bag (she suddenly felt a strange tingle in her stomach as she looked upon the cover of the book).
Watching her eyes glaze from the sides, Sirius nudged painfully on the ribs. "What are you doing tonight?" Sirius asked, making her jump up in her seat. She turned around to find him smiling puckishly.
"NOTHING that involves being anywhere around you!"
"Oh, stop it, I know I'm irresistible, even for you! Anyway, if I were you, I'd be up at half past ten tonight, not dressed in my pajamas. Also, it would be a great stroke of luck if you had on you the tools for Jiorectory!"
"You mean, 'Geometry'?" she asked, half wishing to hit him with the Curse of Bogies.
"That one, exactly!" he said grinning handsomely back at her.
- O -
By the time she could wriggle herself out of the Common Room and head upstairs to some peace and quiet, it was already dark outside. Rubbing her eyes tiredly, she flocked down on her bed with the book in her hand (thankfully she had the dorm all to herself). Cosying up in her four-poster bed, she settled into the silent night with a wide smile on her face—something only Sirius was capable of achieving. Flipping through the book for the first time since she borrowed it from the library, she realised it contained ancient scriptures and stories of long ago. Gripped instantly by the pictures and the chapter heads that her eyes caught as she flipped more through the book, she felt herself get more and more nervous for some odd reason.
'Woldorin & Its Gryffindors' she heard Dumbledore's kind words resonate in her mind once more. Shoving handfuls of pages aside, she quickly sifted through the book before finally landing on page five-hundred and forty four.
Under the large letters of the chapter title was the picture of four animals, looking deadlier and fiercer than she had ever seen them be depicted before. She felt her heart quicken as she stared back at the monstrous lion in the middle, gnarling and baring its fearsome teeth. She immediately wondered what this story could be about... What in the name of Merlin was 'Woldorin'? How were the Gryffindors associated with this name? And why did Dumbledore think Isabella, in particular, would find it amusing...?
Running a shaky hand over the picture, she dived into the story at once:
'WOLDORIN & ITS GRYFFINDORS
Many thousand years ago, there lived an old wizard called Everard who hailed from Rhosgobel in the Vales of Anduin. He was also called the 'nature-whisperer' due to his unusual inclination towards nature, animals and his choice of earth-brown robes that characterized the forest floor. Everard, among others, was thought to have been sent to the country by the Veela to aid and build the Magical World as we see it today. Before the intervention of the Veela, all of Europe's Magic was scattered and in a state of utter chaos; before the Fərst Magique Conseil, it is said that isolated incidents of witchcraft were constantly reported from far off countries which, the Veela feared, could potentially compromise the well-guarded secret of magic. This eventually initiated the colonising of the First Age Witches and Wizards from all over the country and, eventually, the first Ministry of Magic was set up. However, different factions were soon formed on account of several disagreements, the most controversial of which was on mixing of purebloods with no-majs.
'Originally there were thought to have been over a hundred factions with varying views and beliefs and each of these factions colonised across different parts of the Aegean. However, over time, smaller factions started getting invaded and conquered by bigger factions for want of power and the number of factions slowly started to shrink. After nearly three hundred years of war and bloodshed, there were only four major factions that existed—Caedesmort, Armindale, Woldorin and Elvedoria—four massive, yet extremely powerful factions that were ruled by kings and rulers who assumed leadership roles in each. Of the four factions, Caedesmort was most feared as they were the most powerful, cunning and merciless of them all.
'Most of the wizards that the Veela had originally chosen for building the Magical World became allies to one or the other of the four factions, except Everard. Unlike other wizards of his time, Everard was not seeking power or political affiliations to expand his Magic and Theme as was customary of powerful wizards in that Age; instead, he resorted to spreading love and serenity to the lesser Mortal world which was part of Mother Earth.
'Somewhere in the middle of the Second Age, Caedesmort gained a new wizard and ruler; a ruler and wizard that the World would talk about forever; a ruler and wizard who would go on to becoming one of the Greatest Dark Lords the Magical World would ever see… The High King of Caedesmort, Mávros Slytherin, was a ruthless ruler and army chief who unleashed terror, war and bloodshed across the Aegean. The evil of Mávros was compared to that of Satan himself; fear reeked across the kingdoms so much so that there came a time when his subjects refused to look even upon his face.
'However, as fate would have it, love struck Mávros on the battlefield between the armies of Caedesmort and Woldorin. A bloody battle of the swords and wands ensued between King Mávros and King Daerian when, all of a sudden, Daerian was disarmed. Mávros moved in for the kill and mercilessly raised his sword to cut Daerian's head off when there was an earth-shattering clang of metal. Mávros found his sword struggling to overpower and conquer another. Anger and murk emanated from the very eyes of the Dark Lord as he tactfully swung his weapon and turned to look upon the mortal who dare stop him: the exact contrast of what Mávros was made of stood before him: there, in front of him, stood Goddess Athena incarnate. Irvette Gryffindor, wife of Daerian Gryffindor and sister of wizard Everard, was the most beautiful and noble Queens the wizarding world ever saw. Long white hair, eyes like the very claws of eagle, slender, elegant, yet, strong, valiant and absolutely fearless—she won Mávros's heart instantly.
'Legend says the battle that ensued between Irvette and Mávros will always be remembered as the most blood-curdling and fierce battle of skill, power, race and passion. Mávros, despite his Satanic appearance, seemed to helplessly fall for the wife of another with every clink and clash of their swords until he was grandly defeated. Irvette's bravery, fury and love for her husband salvaged Daerian's life on the battlefield that day. Over time, however, Mávros's obsession for Irvette spread like the plague and, gloom fell across the rest of the three factions in anticipation of yet another, even bigger War on the horizon. Irvette's Seer foretold that a war, like no-other, would be fought between Caedesmort and Woldorin for a hundred years. Daerian will die and the faction will perish; Woldorin will not have an heir.
'That night, Irvette was seen singing a lullaby to her new-born one last time. It is said that in the dead of the night, the guards of Woldorin saw a silver light fall from the highest tower of their castle—not a scream was heard.
'The news left Mávros both brimming with pride and seething with rage. Her devotion to Daerian was so ethereal that it made Mávros's love for Irvette both burgeon and diminish at the same time. Mávros cursed the pair and deemed that they will be Man and Wife in seven births, however, be separated by death in their seventh life together so as to make them suffer the loss of love and avenge his broken heart. A devastated Daerian approached wizard Everard to seek justice for his wife's death and to reverse the curse that was mercilessly laid upon his family. Everard presented Daerian with a pocket clock and said,
'Life is a Cricle, Daerian...
A true Heir of Gryffindor need only find the Clock.
Every time the Cursed Pair is reborn in this world, the clock would chime.
And the clock would chime seven times, seven births hence.
The true Heir of Gryffindor need only find the Clock,
And reverse the curse to be reborn seven more times.
And seven more times yet again and again.
And the Magic will go on forever…'
'Mávros was soon overpowered and dethroned. Two generations later, the unspeakable deeds of Caedesmort were slowly fading away and harmony began to restore among the four factions. Three more generations later, the boundary-lines between the four factions started to fade as inter-faction marriages became more prevalent.
'Eventually, the History of the factions started to fade away with Time much to the concern of the elders in the countries. Thus, came about the idea of building a wholly Magical School, Hogwarts, as we know it now. The four founders, Salazar Slytherin from Caedesmort, Godric Gryffindor from Woldorin, Rowena Ravenclaw from Armindale and Helga Hufflepuff from Elvedoria used the Magic and the beliefs of their factions and built the school by instilling their charm in every brick.
Thus, is the story of the Cursed Pair: Fenomena Atmamiter.'
The book slipped off her lap and fell THUD! to the floor when the door to her dorm blasted open and someone shouted, "What the BLOODY hell are you doing, still hiding up in here?!"
Her heart had still not stopped racing from the shock as she turned around to find an annoyed Sirius at the door. "What in the world, Sirius...?!"
"It's a quarter to ten! Have you forgotten?" he growled before shamelessly pushing the door open and waltzing into the girls' dorm. "Ah, good, at least you're dressed!" he said, giving her one good look of approval before admiring himself in the mirror. "Now, come on, we have got work to do!" he said, taking the liberty of rummaging through her trunk and tossing out two or three of her undies, much to her horror!
"SIRIUS!"
"Ah, found it!" he said, holding up her box of geometry tools (along with a polka-dotted bra hanging precariously down his hand). "Let's go, then!" he said and before she could even process what was happening, he had grabbed her by the hand and dragged her down towards the Common Room once more.