The Last Druidess

Silence.

Dumbledore rose and his mouth half opened before he swiftly closed with an audible snap that every student and staff member heard.

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The girl dressed in the white robes - which looked very much out of place among all the regular black Hogwarts robes - looked around her almost imperceptibly at the hundreds of pairs of eyes staring at her, tracking her every step down the area between the Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff tables.

Though the expression on her pretty face never once changed, Shiroi reached up behind her, seeking the comfort of the only being to keep her company on the long trip that it had been necessary for her to take to reach this utterly god-awful place, Kokoro.

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The Great Hall snapped out of its reverie at the sight of a magnificent unicorn appearing by the girl's shoulder, the spell that had kept him hidden destroyed by the touch of the caster. Dumbledore looked at the girl-and she definitely was-with more than a little consternation; she really shouldn't have been able to walk straight into the Hogwarts grounds, but then she was accompanied by a unicorn and no human-magical or not-that a unicorn could consider good company could ever be seen as anything but beneficial for the school and its students. With this answer, Dumbledore smiled down benignly at the girl who had entered just as the Sorting had finished and wondered, more passively now, how exactly she had managed to get in and what she would do the students.

With a chuckle that was swiftly enveloped by the barely whispered comments from all the houses, Dumbledore settled back into his chair. This would be a very intriguing year.

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All the way down that aisle, Shiroi's eyes never once strayed from the face of the Headmaster. She had been told that he would teach her, and that only through coming here would she ever find her destiny. With a sigh so small that only Kokoro noticed it, Shiroi thought back to the day that she had known for sure she would have to leave home.

Namara looked up at her granddaughter through eyes that were clouded with a combination of age and pain, despite the songs Shiroi had been playing to keep her mind away from the pain.

As Namara hacked out yet another cough, Shiroi winced-her grandmother's passing was closing fast, she could almost feel the cold very dry breath of Death brushing her cheek, hear him whispering something that she couldn't quite make out. With a start, Shiroi looked down at Namara, blushing as she realised that what her melodramatic mind had taken to be Death's whisperings were actually her grandmother, trying to impart some last words to her.

"Shiroi, granddaughter, I can't see you there"

If Shiroi bent right down she could just hear the words issuing from the rasping throught of her grandmother, tears filled her eyes at the realisation that the only constant in her life was fading, the only person she could nearly relate to was about to leave her stranded yet again. "It's okay Grandmother, I'm here."

"You must leave. With my passing, you shall become the only true druidess to walk the earth. All of our kind are gone, either forsaken their true heritage, or dead at the hands of those destroying our lovely land. Know always that the cause your mother died for, lives on through your own life. You cannot stay here with no company, our forests will die with me, and you must leave this place..." Namara trailed off, looking at some spot above Shiroi's shoulder.

Shiroi bent closer still, thinking that perhaps her hearing wasn't acute enough to catch the end of the sentence. "Grandmother?" she queried, looking at her gandma's face.

"I am not gone yet child, but the time is coming. As I hear the footsteps of Death approaching I am granted a clearer sight than I have ever had whilst firmly tied to the living. You must leave this place and travel for some time. Seek the Headmaster of this school. I see now that your destiny is not quite that of a true druidess, but you are to bring about a new age for our people, that will be tied more closely to those of the..." again the soft, raspy voice died out.

Shiroi's hand was weakly grasped and she saw in her mind a vision of a castle, surrounded by vast, green lawns and a forest to rival even her own, this must be the school that she must seek. "I will go, I promise this to you grandmother, but who will the fate of our people be tied to?" she gently prompted her dying grandma.

"...wizards." And with that last word leaving her lips, her final breath left her, and Shiroi was left bending over the corpse of the only other person she knew in the entire world. Lets face it, Namara had been her entire world! She collapsed forward onto her grandma's corpse and tears ran down her cheeks and she began to keen, even as the forest, her home for 14 years faded and withered, as the supreme will that had sustained it was snuffed out.

She wasn't altogether sure just how long she sat there before Kokoro had come and taken her away, forever. Leaving behind everything, her only friend, only contact, that of the unicorn. Kokoro had spent the year long trip telling her of the school, its name, the houses, how everyday things happened-how he knew it all she would never really be sure of.

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Shiroi looked up at Dumbledore and said clearly, in a melodious voice, "Is it too late for me to be Sorted?"