Elementals of Magic: Prophecy of Lies

Chapter 24

Radiance Descending

Narcissa stared at the silver words. She blinked. The blonde continued staring at them, not knowing what to make of Draco´s words.

She had promised Vic not to tell Draco unless the older woman gave permission. The one thing that Draco ought to know, need to know, deserved to know, Narcissa couldn´t tell him.

And if he couldn´t know, then she couldn´t truthfully answer.

Dear Little Dragon. You were never mine.

Finally, after much deliberation, she wrote a final and somewhat truthful answer.

How did she know? Victoria has ways that neither of us can imagine. Why? Because you are important. Dragons are always important, no matter who they are.

Narcissa could only hope that Draco would accept the not-quite-so-reasonable answer because she could not tell him the truth. And when she was finally given permission to do so, the blonde doubted that she would want to.

Vic would probably want to tell him herself. That solves one of my problems. I just hope that the truth doesn´t drive Draco apart from me and the ones who truly love him.

***

What does she mean? Why does she always give me such cryptic answers? And why is Mother so distant sometimes?

The blue words confused Draco. They were too ambiguous, and they did not truly answer Draco´s questions. The blonde had noticed that lately, his mother always evaded his questions. But why? Why was she so not like the Mother he loved sometimes?

Harry peered at the answer from behind Draco, chin resting on Draco´s shoulder and arms around the Slytherin´s waist.

"What does she mean?"

"I don´t know."

"Your mother makes it seem like Victoria, whoever she is, is very powerful."

"She must be. Do you know that she won her Founders´ Pride against Tom Riddle, the Heir of Slytherin? He should have won, especially since he was an Heir."

"Wait. She competed against Tom Riddle? Are you sure?"

"Very. I found a book that detailed all the Founders´ Prides ever held."

"But if she was, then she is the same Victoria that was in my parchment for Ravenclaw´s hunt! Drac, she was Voldemort´s lover!"

"I know. My parchment told me the same thing. And it seems that he did love her back, at least at first."

"The thing is, Tom Riddle found the Chamber of Secrets in his Fifth Year. That means that he had started turning dark already when his Sixth Year came, and that was the year that he competed. If she had beaten him then, wouldn´t she be stronger than Voldemort? Shouldn´t she be the one to defeat him instead of me?" asked Harry wistfully.

"If she is, then why would she not help in the war against him? Mother has not heard from her for seventeen years. Where could she have been during this time? You´re still our savior, love."

Harry was speechless.

"I had a dream some time ago about Victoria. Do you remember the creature that I turned into when I drank my Animagus Potion?"

"Yeah."

"She knows what the creatures are. In the dream, she was flying atop one of them. She came to Hogsmeade on a Hogsmeade weekend. Coincidence, maybe not. But she met Mother at the Three Broomsticks, and she knew who Mother was, though Mother had never seen her before. They discussed about Lucius and whether he actually loved Mother back first. Then, Victoria told Mother that she had something to tell her, which was the real reason she was there, but before the true reason was revealed, my dream ended. But it must have been important because otherwise, my mother would not be dodging my questions about her cousin."

"But what could be so important that would require Victoria to meet your mother personally, especially if your mother has never seen her before?"

"I don´t know, love, I don´t know. If I knew, I wouldn´t have to ask Mother."

"At least I can understand one thing she said."

"And what would that be?"

"Dragons are always important, no matter who they are."

And Harry leaned into Draco and turned his head to kiss Draco, who had an expression of surprised happiness on his face at Harry´s love-filled words, which had only been a mysterious answer moments before.

***

The Forbidden Forest was strangely active. Typically, no creatures were up and about late at night, all of them enjoying long-deserved sleep after a rough day of fighting and running from other creatures. Except for a few stray centaurs, but even they retired after consulting the stars one last time.

However, the Forbidden Forest was filled with commotion this late spring night. The stars shone twinkling overhead, the most prominent of all Draconis, curled snugly around the North Star, which glimmered brighter than ever, guiding lost travelers and those at sea and in the air to safety. The night was clear, no hint of a storm cloud or any type of cloud. A waning crescent hung in the sky, the dim moonlight shining onto the dense forest, though none of its rays penetrated the thick growth.

The unicorns clustered in a group in a hidden niche in the forest unknown to any others, not even Hagrid. Their pure white coats glistened like the sun in the darkness, the beautiful thick manes brilliantly gleaming and their horns reflecting the moon, who looked upon them with favor, always.

They surrounded their leader, who was not high-ranking by far, but he was their leader, and they obeyed him. He was the oldest and wisest of them all, and the unicorns gathered around him, appealing to him for a decision or some cleverly chosen wise words.

These pure creatures could feel it better than any other creature that there was change in the air. The scent and feel of change was everywhere, in the air, in the earth, in the sky, in their pure coats, and no matter how hard they scrubbed and bathed at the lake, they could not erase the clear and distinct scent of change from themselves. If a unicorn could not erase change from its mane, then a great change was befalling over all, and the unicorns would seek their leader for an explanation.

The leader heard their words, their worries, their fears, their proposals, their rash comments, and slowly, as the each unicorn said its share, silence began to descend upon the worried creatures. The unicorns could not read the stars like the centaurs, and they had no need to. However, they, like all other wild creatures, had a natural instinct that could detect change, the instinct that humans had lost after many eons of living in a civilized manner and suppressing the inherent instincts within.

The leader evaluated each unicorn´s words carefully, then glanced up at the night sky. He could not decipher the stars; all he saw were glimmering pinpricks of light shining down upon his land. But a figure stood out, that of a dragon. And he knew that he could not govern this change, that even the Incipient could do nothing to change this.

He knew that the legendary First was the one who controlled this change, the legendary First that was the first to exist out of them all, even before the Incipient came into being. And even the Incipient bowed down to the whim of the First; even She could not alter the will of the First.

He instructed his people to look up into the sky. One by one, the glorious heads turned upwards, and they all saw the stars as points of great brightness, but they could discern the figure of a dragon from the myriad of lights strewn about the black sky.

The unicorns understood. They all knew about the First, and they knew that the First was the one who dictated the change. The First, who all creatures bowed down before, who obeyed no one. She was the ultimate being. None of them had ever seen Her, and She was said to be legendary, but they all knew that She was real, as real as each of them, as real as the Incipient, who they all answered to without question.

And if the First governed this, then nothing could be done but to wait. Surely the centaurs would be arguing and articulating about this amongst themselves, but unicorns were not centaurs. They would wait for the change and see the results, then adjust themselves to the conclusion.

***

Meanwhile, in another part of the forest, the centaurs held a meeting amid themselves, discussing the change that all had felt, the change that was eminent, that none of them would dare to upset. After all, they had sworn to not set themselves against the heavens. Besides, even if they did, this was out of their hands, as all had seen from stargazing.

Firenze, however, was in disagreement with Bane, as per usual. Many of the centaurs ignored the argument, as they had become accustomed to the discrepancy of views between the two centaurs, and the fighting was too commonplace to pay attention to.

"Why do you always insist on helping humans? They always believe themselves as high and mighty, but they cannot even sense great change, such as this one tonight! All the inhabitants in this forest have perceived this, but the humans still sleep peacefully, not knowing what is to happen soon!"

"If I don´t help them, then they´ll just remain clueless, like you said! They need to have a fair chance, like the rest of us. This time, I will not be setting myself against the heavens! I will just be helping the heavens!"

"It does not matter! You must not increase the speed of the change or do anything to hinder the natural flow of events! The heavens ordain it so, and you must obey! Do you not remember what you did seven years ago, helping that Harry Potter boy? His fate was written, but you saved him from it!"

"And was I not supposed to? This change involves him as well, and if I did not interfere, then this change would not have been able to occur!"

"If you did not save him, then this change would not have needed to occur! Firenze, you are a disgrace to all centaurs! You know the rules, you know that we are not allowed to reveal the secrets of the stars! We were given the talent to read them on the condition that we do not expose the future nor interfere in it as how we see fit!"

"I fully intend to help the next few nights, when the dragon comes into our forest! He may not know who he is, but he is an important part of the Prophecy that is about to come!"

"You may not do such a thing! Firewind Dragon prophecies never lie! You are not needed for him to realize his destiny! He will succeed on his own, no matter what!"

"Yes, but how long will it take? He is blind currently. His mother has not deigned it fit to reveal to him the truth yet! He needs guidance! Without the proper help, he does not know what to do, and he will carry out foolish tasks that could jeopardize us all!"

"It does not matter what he does! The Prophecy will come to pass, the First has never predicted wrong."

"This could be Her first. I do not believe that She is infallible. She may be the First, but even She must make mistakes some time."

"How dare you question the First? She rules over us all, even the Elder dares not defy Her for fear of Her powers!"

"Stop, Bane, Firenze," ordered their leader, Ash. He looked at them angrily.

"Why must the two of you always disagree over the most trivial matters?" Bane and Firenze shifted uneasily, being reprimanded by their leader in front of their peers.

"Firenze, you do need to stop thinking such radical thoughts. At least, keep them to yourself. You know the ways of our kinds, you know what we can and cannot do. Bane, you are older, and you must act your age. Always arguing with a youngster does not bode well for your image. Also, you have no right to order Firenze around. I am the only one who is able to, besides his kin." By this time, all the other centaurs had gathered around to watch Ash chiding the two centaurs.

"We can all read the stars, and we know that a change has been set upon us. All the rest of the creatures only know that the First is involved. We, however, know that the Prophecy has finally begun to truly commence. Over the last fifty years, we´ve detected the times when certain events of the Prophecy occurred, but this is when the Prophecy has finally begun to exhibit an effect on the world.

Firenze, you know better than to question the First. She has never prophesized wrong because if She did, all of us would remember it. But She has never been wrong. She is even better at reading the stars than we are. The Prophecy was dictated by Her before the Granddaughter was even born.

You know that even the Elder bows down before her. All the leaders obey Her will. The Incipient, the Elder, the Mother, they all obey Her. She is the one who evoked this change, and Her will we must obey. Not even Her own kind dares to defy Her.

Firenze, Bane, I do not want to hear anymore of your bickering over this change. The rest of you, return to what you were just doing. Lectures are not excuses to watch two of your fellow centaurs being shamed."

The crowd, after hearing Ash´s words, quickly pretended that they had not even gathered around the three centaurs and went back to conferring about the change. Ash chuckled quietly to himself before leaving Bane and Firenze. Bane shot Firenze an angry look, then sauntered away, probably for some peace and quiet.

"I´ll do what I want to. You can´t order me around, Ash. I answer only to the Elder and the First. I will help the dragon when he comes," Firenze said to himself.

***

Hogwarts had bustled into a flurry of studying in a few days. Leading them was Hermione, who had started studying for N.E.W.T.s before she had even taken the O.W.L.s. The Ravenclaws and several of the more studious Hufflepuffs had taken it onto themselves to start studying for the impending exam that would occur at the end of May, and they could be found studying during all times of the day. During the meals, all that could be seen at the Ravenclaw table were open books, the books covering the Seventh Years´ faces, and many others wondered how they managed to eat. They had taken over the Library, much to Hermione´s dismay, who complained about the amount of space they were filling. Ron had, of course, tried to talk to Hermione about relaxing, but she refused to listen to him when he started on that topic, saying that she needed to receive as many N.E.W.T.s possible as she could, which meant that she had to study hard. Ron had given up after awhile.

The Gryffindor boys had agreed to start studying in May, which was not a very long ways off. Hermione had badgered them until they finally gave in. Thus, the boys spent all their free time joking around as compensation for the many missed hours of leisure in May.

Hermione had even refused to go to Hogsmeade, saying that the novelty had worn off after four years and that she really needed to study. However, when she arrived at the Library, she found the place even fuller than usual, and she promptly decided to accompany Harry and Ron after throwing an indignant glance at the Ravenclaws occupying her place.

By the time April 17 arrived, even the Hufflepuffs had started studying. Hermione had taken to studying in the common room because of the unwanted visitors occupying the Library, and she studied with a soundproof charm around her so that no one could disturb her precious time. She did not even allow Ron to distract her, which resulted in Ron moping about and saying that his girlfriend valued studying and good grades more than him.

The morning of April 17 descended without anything abnormal occurring. No one made a big deal or a big scene out of the day the night before, in fact, it seemed that no one even remembered that April 17 was significant somehow, which was just fine with Harry. He hadn´t forgotten that all the champions were due to receive their instructions that day.

Breakfast was noisy and raucous, at least at the Gryffindor Table. The Fifth and Seventh Years at the Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff Tables were all immersed in books, and they paid no heed to any occurrence around them. Harry believed that if he and Draco were to kiss at that moment, which would cause an uproar, the studying students would just peer from their books peevishly and ask everyone to lower their voices so that their studying would not be disturbed.

The entering of the owls was barely noticed by most students, so prosaic it had become. However, Harry noticed that two owls went to Susan and Terry respectively, Terry´s owl having to peck at his book before attracting the Ravenclaw´s attention and Susan´s owl chewing on her hair before gaining her attention. He began to concentrate his attention onto the owls, predicting that he and Draco would each receive one also.

Harry was right. Moments later, a tawny owl soared down to him, a simple piece of parchment tied onto his leg. The owl landed in front of Harry, and Harry relieved it of its burden. The owl took a sip from Harry´s goblet, then stretched its wings and flew away.

Harry noticed that Draco had already received his parchment, and the Gryffindor opened his. He felt like laughing, though, once he read the simple words written on the parchment.

Make a Love Potion, any kind acceptable.

A Love Potion? That had to be the easiest task they could assign him! Until Harry remembered that Love Potions were forbidden, and he quickly stuffed the paper into his robes and out of sight.

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