The Rest Is Silence

The Rest Is Silence

By Eretica Dantess

Chapter One: Something Wicked This Way Comes

August 1996; an island in the Mediterranean near Corsica

A bright red flash shown through the darkness, the only light she had to go by. She kept on; she could sense another person near. Just then, another red spark was flashed and the room was illuminated, a dozen candles simultaneously lit up around her, and she could now see him clearly. He didn't say anything. He just stared at her and the wicked gleam in his deep brown eyes penetrated her soul. At length, she was able to tear her eyes away from him and see to where it was she was summoned. It had the appearance of the inside of a small cave, except there was a roaring fire to her right. It was quite cozy, but for some reason, she didn't feel warm. Cold chills ran up her spine, the way they always did when he was near her.

"Come," he said, beckoning her over to him. Her eyes found his again, and she wasn't even aware of her feet moving her body closer to him. When, at last, she was but a few inches from him, he took her hand and brought it up to his face. The warmth of his skin against her palm eased her chills like a hot spring in the middle of winter. She felt herself melting into him all over again, even though she swore against it time and time again. She mustn't give in. He had no power over her...

Nevertheless, she couldn't tear herself away from his passionate kiss.

Another red flash.

She was no longer in his embrace. She was alone in a dank corridor, underneath an invisibility cloak, and she could see through the darkness. Her back was pressed against a stone wall as she snuck quietly through the passageway. She came upon a small room at the corner of the hall, and somehow she instinctively knew this was the one she was looking for. She tiptoed into it and closed the door quietly behind her.

A soft sigh came from a corner of the room, and she walked over to a wicker basinet, peering inside. There lay a sleeping baby girl, and she amorously smiled to herself. She was even more beautiful than she had dreamt. As if sensing the presence of another, the baby abruptly woke and intense, cerulean eyes stared up at her. She silently lifted the child from the basinet. The child stared up at her with suspicious eyes, but she didn't cry.

'Don't worry. I won't hurt you.' She sent the mental message to the child, who gently cooed at the stranger who held her. Just then, the door slammed behind her, and she whipped around to see a woman with long flowing black hair and angry blue eyes. She was dressed in a long sleek black gown and wore a necklace of a serpent on her neck. She knew that necklace.

For an eternity, the two women stared at each other, not knowing which move to make. Then the young woman smiled wickedly.

"I was told you would come." She said, in the same haughty voice as the man who had raised her. "You must have traveled a long way. And only to be brutally murdered, it really is a shame."

"Eretica, you can either stand aside and watch me walk out of this room with her, or you can watch me walk out of this room with her on your knees begging for mercy. Your move." At this, Eretica let out a malevolent cackle.

"Think it's that simple, do you Miranda?" Miranda set the baby back into the basinet. "Yes, I do know who you are. He's told me all about you. And if you think you're taking the next Slytherin heiress away from us, you're sadly mistaken."

"I'm not letting him turn her into another you!"

"Don't you understand, you old wench? This is no longer your world. This is a dynasty he has created for us." Miranda saw her reach behind her back, and immediately put her guard up. "It was nice to meet you mother, or shall I say traitor. You'll die a thousand deaths." She threw a ball of green flame at her, which Miranda skillfully avoided with a jump. She reached in her pocket and felt around, but found nothing. "What? Forgot your wand?" Eretica laughed. "You're certainly making this easy." She threw another green orb.

"He should have told you, I don't need a wand." Miranda blocked the sphere with a blue orb of light from her hand that expanded into a shield around her. The green flame bounced off of the shield and hit Eretica square in the chest. Eretica looked at Miranda in horror, in disbelief even. And then she looked down at her chest, where she had been hit. "See you in hell." With those last words, she crumbled to the floor in front of the basinet. Miranda quickly picked up the baby and quietly left the room, pulling her cloak over them

Another red flash. Except this time it was followed by an explosion of flames.

The flames were warm against Miranda's face as she fell hard onto the ground.

"You didn't think you'd be able to hide forever, did you Miranda?" A cold familiar voice sneered at her. She didn't need to look up to know to whom it belonged. He cackled above her. "You stupid woman. Don't you know who I am?" With that he pulled her face roughly up towards him, and Miranda was forced to look into the cold eyes of the man she once loved. Except he was no longer a young and handsome man but a creature, old and senescent, save for the aura of power that surrounded him. Behind him, she could see a dozen masked men, and two of them had a young girl in a tight grip as she struggled against them. "Your time has finally come, my dear."

"No!" She heard the girl cry out. "Get away from her! Miranda!" He looked at her and laughed maliciously.

"And soon I will have my Eretica back."

"No!" she called out, desperately. "Please, don't! Not her; I beg you! I'll do anything you ask, just leave her be!"

"It's too late for apologies, Miranda. It's time for you to pay for everything you have taken from me." And with that, a spark of penetrating green light blinded her, and all she could hear were the screams of the young girl...

Miranda sat up violently in her bed. She alone was in her bedroom. Beads of sweat had soaked the tops of her nightgown. It was a dream, she thought to herself, but the thought brought no more comfort to her than her sleep had. She sat back in bed, pulling the thin cotton sheet over her, and thought about the nightmare.

The first two parts she understood immediately. They were merely memories of the past. She dreamt of those quite frequently. But the last part was something she had never witnessed before. And she only ever dreamed of what had happened and what was to come... A feeling of nausea swept over her. She knew it would happen eventually, no matter how hard she tried to convince herself that they were safe on the island. She wiped a hand over her face, and tried not to let despair overtake her.

She knew what had to be done.

Without a moment's waste, she hurried over to her fireplace, to see that it was roaring appropriately. She went to the cupboard next to it, and rummaged around until she found what she needed. The small jar of floo powder had accumulated so much dust over time that it was barely even recognizable. Nevertheless, she reached her hand in and grasped a handful and threw it onto the fire, producing blue sparks.

"Albus Dumbledore," she called, and was almost immediately met with a tired looking Headmaster of Hogwarts. When his blazing blue eyes cleared enough to see who it was, he softly gasped in amazement.

"Ms. Morgan?" Miranda nodded, and smiled tenderly. "By Hecate, it's good to know you're still alive."

"I beg your pardon, Headmaster, for contacting you so late, but an emergency is at hand."

****

Miranda sat in a brown wicker chair on the back porch of the cottage. The sun was just rising, and the air was a bit crisp, which prompted her to pull her cloak tighter around her. Her long red hair was left down, and cascaded over her shoulders. She sincerely loved this island. They were so far from anything, and nature embraced them from every direction. It was truly magical.

"Good morning" Miranda turned her head toward the doorway and there stood her granddaughter, Druscilla. Her dark blue eyes were wide-awake, and she too had her cloaked tucked around her. She sat on the floor next to the chair, as she usually did, and let her legs dangle over the side of the porch. "Are you alright, Miranda?"

"Yes, child" Miranda replied, simply. "Quite alright." She smiled gently, and stroked Druscilla's long black hair.

"You were shouting in your sleep," she added, by way of concern. She looked up at her grandmother, and her eyes revealed not panic, but curiosity, as they often did. "What did you dream, then? Another thunderstorm? Shall I go secure the windows--?"

"Not this time, Druscilla." Miranda's tone of voice was ominous. She took a deep breath, and Druscilla knew that this was far more serious than a storm. She turned her body to face her. Miranda sat up and drew another breath before beginning.

"It seems that the time has finally come for you to be acquainted with the world outside of our little island." At this, Druscilla sat up sharply. She didn't like the sound of this. Surely Miranda must have been mistaken. "Now is your chance to explore the magical world that you have read about in your books, something you have so often complained about." This was true; Druscilla often expressed her aversion to her own isolation, but for some reason, she didn't get the feeling that this was a good thing.

"But... are you sure you've not interpreted incorrectly? I mean, perhaps it was merely a normal dream that has no significance to anything."

"Druscilla, you know as well as I that such dreams do not exist, especially not for me. All dreams have significance. This is a message from the gods, a gift that you should one day be so lucky to inherit."

"Alright then. Where are we going? And how soon?" Miranda sighed, deeply.

"Child, you know I cannot go with you. My duty in this spectacular cycle called life has been fulfilled. Besides, I have taught you far more than you need to know to cope with the magical community." Druscilla could feel a mixture of anger, fear and sorrow churning in the pit of her abdomen. At length, she was able to articulate it.

"So you mean to abandon me, is that it? I'm to leave this place and never return, am I?" She glared spitefully at Miranda.

"I'd advice you to adopt a less hostile tone with me, child." Miranda looked sternly at Druscilla, and Druscilla seemed to back down, though she was still visibly seething with anger. She crossed her arms over her chest, indignantly. "This decision is out of my hands, and is most certainly out of yours." Druscilla turned away from Miranda, so she couldn't see that she was close to tears. 'Tears are a sign of weakness' was what she had always been told.

"When do I leave?" she asked, just above a whisper.

"I have arranged for you to attend my old school, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry." Druscilla didn't know what to think of this. "That way you can finish your studies and interact with people your own age." She couldn't believe Miranda was trying to rationalize this. She got up and stomped into the house, refusing to hear another word.

****

Druscilla sat alone in a fancy carriage. It was impressively elegant; she wondered how her grandmother had been able to provide such an opulent method of transportation for her. Two strange horses were pulling the carriage. Harnessed to the coach, the creatures were vaguely reptilian in appearance; they were completely fleshless, with huge black, leathery wings. If she had to describe them, she'd say they were more like dragons; she had never seen any creature like them. Just what type of school was she heading to? She wished she had been able to squeeze more details about her destination out of Miranda. All she knew was that she was attending a boarding school somewhere in the Scottish Plains, wherever that was.

The events of the past few days had seemed to be a dream to her. Her aura was clouded with conflicting emotions. She was excited to finally be sent out into the world after living in seclusion her whole life. She had read so much over the years about the wizarding world. But at the same time, the fact that this decision was so abrupt didn't sit quite right with her. She hadn't had a choice, and there was something in Miranda's eyes that morning that haunted her.

Fear was not a familiar emotion to Druscilla, but for the first time in her life, she felt painfully frightened of the world ahead of her. While she was never satisfied with the constraints of living on the island with Miranda, she had always been comforted in the knowledge that she wasn't alone. Now, staring out of the compartment's windows onto an unfamiliar horizon, she felt bitterly lonesome. Abandoned.

She sighed to herself, peering out of the window once more. A thick fog seemed to engulf the carriage. It was white, and translucent. Almost like a cloud... Druscilla leaned a little closer out into the window and came to a startling conclusion. The carriage was in the air. She stared down at an overwhelmingly blue ocean in utter amazement.

"You're ready." Miranda had told her the evening before. Druscilla hadn't the slightest clue of what she was to face, but the underneath it all, she felt anything but ready.