Lady of Ice

Lady of Ice

I ran up those long winding stairs towards the top of the tower. I knew this as the way she would have come. Our own small room was at the top of this tower. An old, unused astrology tower, with maps of stars and constellations on the walls and ceiling. It was round, barely twenty five feet across, with one large balcony at the side. We used to hide there to escape our fellow Slytherins. Escape the expectations of our names.

I reached the top stairs and burst through the trap door. There she was, standing on the rough stone of the low balcony wall. Just standing, looking down. Her long white nightdress was blowing about her in the wind. Her pale skin was even paler in the moonlight, almost as pale as her silvery-blonde hair. She was so beautiful, so pure, even in the coldness she always held in her heart. Beautiful like a frozen lily lost in the snow. She hadn't yet noticed I was there.

I walked slowly up to her and took her hand in mine. It was as cold as ice. She seemed to be in some kind of trance, staring into the distance. Gently I helped her down and sat her on the stone floor of the tower. She looked at me with those pale blue-grey eyes and I felt a wave of fear as I saw a small piece of her soul.

I couldn't break free of her gaze. For those few seconds I felt what she lived. Fear of all people. Fear of pain. Fear of her own family name. Trapped in a world created by her father. Trapped with no way of escape. I saw images of dark circles black robed figures, around a central figure with his arms raised to the sky. He had occult markings on his bare chest, markings in blood. Stabbing pains in my wrists told me where the blood had come from. Those forming the circle where chanting, becoming louder and louder...

She blinked, and I was pulled back to the real world.

"He's getting stronger. Stronger every day. He will be immortal soon. He uses my blood for his ceremonies. It's gone to far. He can't use anyone else anymore. The ritual is only half completed, and when it's over, I'll die. This way I can at least stop his power growing for a while. Severus, I have to go."

She started to pull away from me. I still held her wrist, and I tried to keep her down, but she stepped back up on her ledge. The first fain started to fall as she spoke again.

"Come with me, Severus. I've seen the life your going to lead. I see it whenever I look at my father. Don't become a follower to Voldemort's rule. Come with me and be free from him. He wont be able to touch us anymore. There's no spell to bring back the dead. Come with me!"

"No! Stay here with me!"

"I cant"

"Annie, I wont let you go"

"You have to. I don't belong here. I have to go. I know I can never make you follow me, but I want you give me what you have left. Swear to me you wont join him."

"Only if you swear not to go!"

"I cant"

I still had her wrist in my hand when she let herself drift over the edge. I held her struggling figure until the weight of her sodden nightdress pulled her from me and I saw her fall to the sharp rocks and break like a china doll. Like a majestic sculpture of ice shattered by the pressures of the world. I stared down at her for what seemed to me like an eternity. Even from the great height of the tower I could still see her smile. Her blue grey eyes sparkling like two diamonds in the darkness. Slowly her blood mixed with the rain and stained the rocks she lay on, and still she smiled at infinity.

I could hear footsteps coming up the stairs behind me. I wiped the tears from my eyes. I couldn't let anyone else see me like this. I performed a chameleon charm on myself and stood against the wall. No sooner had the charm taken effect when a boy rose through the trap door in the centre of the room. He was tall, a few years older than I, with long silvery-blonde hair and grey eyes. But Lucius's eyes lacked the tones of blue that where in his sisters. His hair was without her gentle waves.

"Annie! Annie! I know your up here!"

He glanced around a few times, thankfully missing my silhouette, before his eyes came to rest on the balcony balustrade. A took of terror crossed his face as he starred at the rain soaked ledge and walked the short distance to it. I didn't see his face as he looked down, but I saw the tear of grief fall to the stone with the rain.

I fled. I couldn't bear to watch another person grieve for her. Not even her own brother. I couldn't even let myself grieve yet. I wasn't ready.