Dissindere Temporalis

So this didn't fit in the narrative for the next chapter. But it was important to have this scene now. For reasons that will hopefully become apparent further down the line.

So here we have our first Interlude!

This heralds the time jump. As we skip forward a few years to Fourth Year when stuff starts going both right...and awry.

Enjoy the mind of Kelanna Hale.

Extra shout outs to the loveable people over on Discord! You should join us!

Interlude I (Kelanna)

For as long as she could remember, Kel had had Dreams.

As a young girl they had terrified her, as moments from her nightmares had become vivid realities. Like the little red-haired girl being shoved over by the blond haired boy and breaking her arm. Or the test that was a surprise to every student except her.

But she'd always had her parents for comfort.

Her father was a gentle man, with sandy blond hair and the kindest eyes she'd ever seen, then or now. He loved his daughter, their only child, despite, or even more because of the strange magic in her veins. It was a world he didn't understand, but that didn't stop him from listening to her every fear, and celebrating her every success.

Her mother shared her gift, and reassured her that it was one that had been passed down through the women in their family as far back as anyone could remember

"These visions are as much of a gift as they are a curse," her mother murmured, brushing her ash blonde hair in long soothing strokes, "You can help, you can hurt…and sometimes by trying to stop something from happening, you end up being the catalyst for that event. Sometimes…" her hand cupped her cheek, "Sometimes, my treasure, events are set in stone. You must accept what you cannot change, but do what you can, when you can."

She dreamed of Tom the day of her 6th birthday, though at the time she hadn't known the name of the boy in her dream.

The dream was dark, shattered, and when she'd woken she'd been sick in her toilet with revulsion. She remembered little of the details, but the sensation of darkness, corruption, evil…that remained.

And she remembered his dark indigo eyes.

Every month or so she dreamed of him.

It was like a warning, like a promise, like the magic was screaming at her about the darkness coming.

But she also dreamed of another, in counterpoint. She didn't know who they were, but the feeling of warmth, like a fire roaring in the depths of winter, a blanket to ward off the chill, it was hope.

Balance.

On her 11th birthday she received the most vivid dream yet.

The most vivid, and the most terrifying.

The forest was silent, dark and still. The only thing she could see were the two men standing there in the small, open clearing.

One was shaking, trembling, terrified, wand shaking in his hand. He had dishevelled blond hair, and blue eyes that were fixed on the figure standing opposite him. He was a stranger.

She'd never Seen him before.

A heartbeat later and she recognised the man opposing him, so different from the boy she had dreamed of, had feared for so long.

But those eyes were cold and terribly familiar. His impossibly handsome face seemed carved from marble, from ice. This young man had cruelty etched around his mouth. The very air around him seemed alive with dark power, but it wasn't the healthy, natural darkness. This was corrupted.

And in the depths of those dark, almost indigo eyes…she saw red.

"Who are you?" the man asked, speaking German but somehow she knew, she understood, his words, "Who are you!?"

"We shall come to that." even the young man's voice sounded wrong, almost distorted, "Right now, I am more interested in who you are, Gustav Bulmach."

"I-I-I am nobody."

"No?" He, the warped mirror version of the boy, prowled forward, "Are you not one of Grindelwald's men? Did you not attack a village in France, on a summer night?"

The man's eyes widened even more, "N-No…"

"Did you not," And the dark wizard strode forward, robes billowing, and crimson flaring in his eyes, making the hapless Gustav shriek and stumble back, falling over himself in terror, "Go to attack the worthless muggles, and find your way blocked by a witch. A girl witch, just a girl. Who held the shields as the others escaped?"

"Please no, mercy please."

The terrible figure stopped, looming over him. "Did you not, shatter her shield, and then stand over her…just like this."

"Please…" Gustav was weeping now, terror in every line of his body, "Please…"

"Where did they go? That was what you asked. And then… crucio ."

Gustav's whimpers turned to screams of agony as he writhed on the ground.

"Where are they girl?" The dark wizard knelt before him, after the curse broke, nose wrinkling slightly as the man soiled himself, "Tell me, or die."

"Please…" Gustav wept and his tormentor stood, plucking a old and valuable looking locket out of his robes, "I beg of you."

"She didn't beg," He murmured, and his voice was a croon that made her whole body shudder with horror, "She never begged. But you see…she was mine, Gustav. That little witch was mine."

"I'm s-s-sorry…"

"Nothing so mundane as love, you see." he sneered, caressing the locket in his hand, "No, nothing so worthless, so mundane. But she was pure. The only truly pure thing in my life. Innocent… And you… took her away. In some ways I must thank you Gustav. You confirmed exactly why I was doing this, preserving my essence in perpetuity. You solidified that these measures were necessary. And now you will help me again, in penance for your crimes against Lord Voldemort."

"H-How?"

"You will die." and with a swift flash of green light the man lay dead, but the wizard's wand was still glowing, and it was a sickly greenish yellow. "You will be my next tether to life."

Lord Voldemort held out the locket as the light grew, and Gustav's body began to glow. "For her ."

A scream slowly filled the air, until it became so loud, so consuming that she had to clap her hands over her ears, but nothing, nothing could stop it and just as she thought her head would burst.

Blessed silence.

The vision was gone

She didn't tell her mother about the vision, too shaken, too sickened to her core. She didn't understand it, but she knew enough to know that a dark wizard would rise.

Voldemort .

A few months before she was due to begin Hogwarts, she was tending to her mother's herb garden, enjoying the first few rays of early summer, when her world exploded.

It was like thunder, silent thunder, clapping in her ears, lightning flashing bright but also invisible against her eyes, wind like a hurricane ripping through her but the flowers remained untouched.

And a moment later everything was still, leaving her behind, shaken, still.

Everything was as it was.

But everything had changed, and she wasn't sure what it meant until her mother burst out of the kitchen, white and shaking, and looking just as rattled as Kel felt.

She'd felt it too. That indescribable… something.

But their neighbours, the Dugwimples, a pair in the employ of the Ministry, had felt nothing.

Shaken, they'd made their excuses to their curious, and concerned neighbours, and retreated to their home.

"It must be because of the Gift." Her mother had breathed, still white, still shaking, as she bustled around making tea, "But I have never experienced that before. Nothing even remotely like it."

"What does it mean?" she'd whispered, deeply frightened, and her mother shook her head.

"I don't know lambkin. We'll have to wait and see… see if it happens again."

Days passed, weeks too, and nothing happened.

Her mother seemed to forget it, content to brush it off as a one time thing.

But Kel couldn't.

Because the visions of the boy with dark indigo eyes… they were gone.

Or rather, the dark, corrupted visions had faded.

Now she saw others, A boy with red hair like a beacon, a girl with hair as soft and brown as the earth, a boy as handsome and cold as ice…

And a boy with eyes as bright a green as emeralds.

Something had changed.

And these four were responsible.

Because when she dreamed of the boy with dark eyes now. She could feel his power. She could sense his darkness.

But it was touched with hope.

It had been a shock to see them all at Hogwarts, to meet the people behind the faces she'd seen for so long.

Ron was loud, brash, courageous too, so much like the lion his house was known for. Hermione was clever, so clever, and always watching and learning. Draco… Draco had a deep sharpness to him like cut glass.

And Harry… was like the sun.

Their group came together, and the boy with the dark indigo eyes, Tom, was with them. And he felt dark. Still dark.

Always dark.

But it was like the comforting dark of a moonlit night, or deep running water.

Clean, clear. Dark but not corrupted. The perfect counterpoint to Harry's sunlight.

The dark could be oppressive, the sunlight could burn too bright.

But together they formed night and day.

Just as Harry, Ron, Hermione and Draco formed summer, autumn, spring and winter.

Balance.

The others too, Aurora with the same velvety darkness of deep running water, Druella with the clear crystal of a cleansing breath of cool air.

Bash the warmth and indolence of a summer breeze.

Kara like a candle burning stubbornly in the dark and Ross the potential and richness of fresh garden earth.

Victoria the tree that bends but never breaks, Abraxas like the cold crisp air of a winter's night.

Tierra the fire in the hearth, the fire that doesn't hurt or harm, but helps.

Something had changed the future, because the dreams of Voldemort were gone, or rather they'd changed. Darkness still loomed. But it felt…expectant.

Eager.

And Kel too, felt hopeful.

And more determined than ever, that she would protect these people she'd come to love.

TO BE CONTINUED...

Cheers everyone! Expect our next update in a few days!