Chapter 19
"Can't Conquer The Stars"
~
There was a dream I had
That ended up dead
The voices in my head
They say
They tell of dark days
Of fate ignored
Of a fate grasped
And twisted
Into more than meant
For
And they whisper
Fortis fortuna adiuvat
Asking me
Simply
Only
That I complete
The dream
That I
Alone
Make destiny real
~
##Elianne##
She stared at the board of ingredients. Crawfoot - Elvyweed - Jartionus and Black Bryony all to collect by next lesson.
Snape being the mean hearted professor had assigned the most difficult ingredients to find ever for his first years end of term project. That was unless you knew the workings of his mind well. And she thought she was beginning to.
At first glance they looked like they'd take a month to gather, either being rare or dangerous to get to. But if you though like a Slytherin for a few seconds you'd see his pattern. They were indeed not the easiest things to set especially for the timid eleven year olds that made up the class, but if you were the intrepid pupil you ought to be or likewise of the Slytherin house, you'd know exactly what to do.
She smiled at the cunning of it.
This class was easy to excel at if only you weren't in any of the other houses.
Maybe it was her mother in her that made it ok for her.
Frankly she didn't care, she got up to stroll out of the room whilst the rest of its inhabitants sat and chattered on its impossibleness, only to here the faint yet overpowering voice of his calling her up to the desk.
"Miss Potter, may you remain behind for a moment"
His face stood still, devoid of any movement until the last pupil had filed out.
She stood in front of the immaculate desk and gulped, swallowing her fear and wonder.
"Last nights activities did not go unnoticed. You are lucky I have not informed your head of house" he walked around to face her "but I believe I have a better reason to deal with this, in light of what it seemed you were looking for. Please do tell me whatever inane excuse it is you have, so that I may duly report it for the record. The real I would prefer to keep between us for a very good purpose."
Her head spun at the demand. Fake an excuse? Bizarre but out rite denying an request of Snape's was like suicide by cauldron, as you'd nearer be scrapping them out for eternity.
"I wanted to look up how to hex someone?"
"Fine, that will do. I suppose. Of course I did lecture you further on the unfortunateness of hexes and trying to perform things before your time, did I not?" the way he said it made no choice in agreement, it had in every fact happened was what it really revealed.
"Yes?" she ventured
"Good. Now onto the truth of the matter. You were looking for a book, on clairvoyancy. The book that you seek however is not employed in the restricted section, you would be wiser to look upon the history section, in particular perhaps you'd find 'Wizard Heraldry of the Latter Ages' by Morgana Melwater insightful."
Her eyebrows curled in confusion
"Why? Why are you telling me this, why aren't you giving me detention? What's this about?"
Snape sneered at having to explain himself
"I thought better of detaining a promising student for a discrepancy that I know will not be repeated. As for the information, such a gift that you seek knowledge of has for many years lain in the lineage of the Snape family"
She didn't like the sound of this. More and more unravelled. A ball of wool with no end, each piece becoming knotted further and further from the answer.
"Are you implying Cassandra is a Snape?"
He turned away, nearing the wall and it's interesting splatter of Callous potion gone wrong that had been deposited by Gregor.
"Rather distantly she is of the family, of an offshoot, offspring of a Snape female who married out. Casseral Snape Hervalus. Better known to her as her grandmother and who I doubt she would know the maiden name and heritage of. Family ties in less organised pureblood families are often not documented or bothered with in much way. My estate and relatives however keep such records on anyone of direct lineage, in case of familial disputes. And I happen to know that Cassandra Elven is of such lineage."
"So that's why she has the gift."
At least some of this made sense to Elianne. That one surprising fact was the only bit so far though.
"If you could call it that. In the past it was not always seen as that as you will hear of in the book I recommended. Casseral Snape had that 'gift'" he leered the word from his mouth, spiting it "and my family were much pleased that it had passed from the name. Casseral though is not Cassandra's grandmother, more that she is her great grandmother and my great aunt."
Elianne frowned on this. Things did not add up like they should. Such instances bothered her. There were always gaps that needed filling, an unaccounted for that you needed to work out. Here the unaccounted-fors heaped up on her mind. What was true out of all Cassy knew? Or had she hidden things form them.
"Then what about her grandparents? What happened to them, Cassy doesn't even know they existed as far as she's said"
Snape carried on calmly. None of it was a care to him. None of this at least.
"Her grandparents were around in the time of Voldemort's first coming and Judith 'Mistala' Hervalus her true grandmother and George Hervalus, her grandfather of Snape blood were entangled with his doings. Ultimately they defected and resisted his power, but no one ever resisted him for long, he saw to that. They both died. And I suspect as it is with many families, they are not talked out because of their dealings with the dark lord and the disgrace felt upon this. Therefore it is not surprising she knew of Casseral as her grandmother instead of Judith."
Snape was still calm as the seashore on a bright summers day. Completely unnerved. Not quite as sunny though.
"And you think this has something to do with what's been happening?"
Snape changed. Face aflare with rage, astounded that she knew.
"We know you were scared at Halloween, you were the only teacher who took that vision of Trelawney's seriously. And Cassy has been acting strangely since then and before then, and suddenly you divulge this. What's up? Something's happening, I know. And you know. Only you know more than me. You're using me like a puppet. On strings."
Snape frowned deeply, obviously disturbed that his thoughts had been probed so plainly when he kept a usual demeanour with his students and all others of a cold and emotionless man, an unreadable mask; one that she'd somehow broken.
"I belong to an organisation. The Order of Charadrius. You will not know of it, you aren't meant to. We aim to set right what is wrong in the world. After the events that led to your own father's death, the community is evermore complacent. We however are not so naïve to think that no replacement will arrive to fill his void. And there is a threat. We are looking into things that may be significant. You would be doing us all, all of the world, a good favour by keeping any eye out on your friend. These changes to her, whatever they are, are not a good indication of what is happening. There are many uses for the gift and many people who would wish to use it to the detriment of common good."
Elianne wasn't sure how to take that. But anything would help it seemed.
"Well, lately she's been so happy and I'm sure its because she hasn't had a visions for a month almost."
Snape paled
"None at all? That is bad." His voice became hollow as he said it, his dark eyes faded further into his depths, "I will have to get back to you but I advise you to look out for your friend, this might be more important than you realise"
Elianne barely had time to attempt to question this when the tall dark figure of her professor and resident informant had swept out of the rooms in an uncharacteristic hurry.
+++++
##Harry##
"Here"
She handed him a cup as he leafed over old newspapers.
"Cherry tea, good for the health after illness"
He smiled at her playfully
"I don't think being dead is an illness, it's a bit beyond that classification."
She smiled back and whacked him on the arm as she passed to sit down on the sofa next to him.
"Anything important?"
He grimaced and wrinkled his nose at the same time
"It's hard to know. I don't know what I'm looking for. But it's good to catch up on what's happened whilst I've been…gone.."
There was an uncomfortable silence.
She looked to the cup in his hand
"Finished it already?"
"Yeah", another cheeky grin from him.
"You always did have the habit of wolfing down any food you got given"
"It must have been from the years of living with the Dursley's"
"I guess"
She returned with another glass.
"What is it?"
He peered at its murky depths.
She scowled at him
"I made it. It's cowslip memory potion. To help you remember anything that might aid you in this…investigation? Is that what you'd call it?"
He took the glass and swooshed the vile liquid down.
"That's what Ron would call it certainly."
Another silence was upon them.
She watched as he read the papers, idling over the moving photos.
"This one's of you"
She was caught off guard and she shook herself out of her reverie.
"What?" she asked befuddled.
"You weren't paying attention. What were you thinking of so deeply?"
"About the past. About what Ron thought. I figured that the potion might reveal something important. After all some must have done it"
"Yes, some must have, someone I trusted." His voice was regretful to this. His eyes however had a distant anger to them.
"You couldn't think that she…"
He broke her sentence off quickly
"I could think anything, I just DON'T know anymore. Some one DID betray me. For I know now it could have been her."
Hermione had a hard time accepting this,
"But she was your wife, you loved her, she's Elianne's mother."
His eyes glared with his rage as he spoke. He did believe it. Just as Ron had all those years before. But it must have hurt infinitely more because he loved her.
"Doesn't change the facts, if they tend to fit, but we'll see. Don't know anything yet."
"How can you condemn her"?
The words battled across between the two.
"If she did it then she deserves it"
Hermione could barely believe the roles were reversed so totally. Once the woman she now defended was her foe and once May was Harry's lover, wife yet he now was purely positioned against her.
"But you loved her" Hermione stressed
Harry looked at her gravely; face full of lament on what went before and said simply
"Things change"
+++++
##Elianne##
At lunch Elianne sat reading the letter over and over.
It was in Hermione's pen but it didn't make sense.
She wanted her to come home for Christmas holiday. Fine. That's normal. The phrasing of it bugged her. Like a hint she wasn't privy to.
But she soon forgot what was bothering her as she listened to her friend's queries and talk of the break.
Dido's brother wanted wizard battle cards, the ultimate set. Dido complained about how he was missing Circe and Gregor the Great and that she was expected to buy him them for a present, using up virtually all her pocket money.
Elianne zoned out and pulled the snatched book from her satchel. Madam Pince hadn't got as good as sight as she'd once had and it had been astonishingly easy to sneak out with the said volume.
She flipped through the book, ignoring her friend's conversation. She passed P, Potter. Leaving that section alone for the time being, it wasn't what was of interest right this moment. S and Snape.
The section was quite large for a wizard family. It seemed to be championed only by such families as the Malfoy's or the old and extinct Princerald's.
And in reading its pages she discovered another reason why Cassandra would have never been told that fateful truth of her grandparents. It seemed that it was not their fault alone for the fate they succumbed to.
Casseral had apparently faked her own death and gone into hiding following the years of Voldemort's rise to power, this move had also threatened her son and his wife, Cassandra's grandparents as the only possible inheritors of the gift. When they had finally comes to what would seem to be their senses they had been struck down by Voldemort only a couple of years prior to his defeat. Casseral had taken Cassy's then young mother Elektra and raised her herself in hiding, feeling most likely responsible for Elektra's lack of family. And in turn Elektra when older had put herself in danger by ignoring her grandmother's advice because of a feud caused by her resentment of her grandmother's involvement in her parent's deaths. All of this was only documented because of Casseral Snape's gift and the passing of it down a line that still inherited Snape blood by it. The otherwise insignificant lives would never have seen print but for this. And right at the bottom of this chain it listed Cassandra Persina Elven as the only known relative alive today descended of Cassarel Snape Hervalus. The only known recipient of the gift. Quite happily stated in an unrestricted book. Open for all the eyes that could read.
"El, what was in your letter?"
She looked up over the top of the pages to all four of them staring at her.
"Oh, just wanting me to come home at Christmas"
Lucretia smiled slyly from her to Cassandra
"Don't you want to know what letter Cassy got recently?"
She tried to work out her friend's meaning but Lucretia could be very good at poker faces. All of them watched her face for signs of something creeping through. The next best bet was Cassy. Who they found blushing across the table.
"Tell them about it Cassy, go on."
Cassy blinked and turned away shyly, leaving it up to Lucretia to explain.
"She got a love letter!"
Flora squealed with glee and wrapped her hands up in mock delight by her head.
"Awww, who's it from?"
Cassy embarrassed, replied smartly "I don't know"
Dido from the sound of it didn't like this "Isn't that a little weird?"
But Flora crept back in on this "no, it's sweet. Anonymous lover, so traditional."
Cassy blushed a deeper shade of red at flora and offered details to reassure Dido, "It was signed from a friend"
~~
The way we were
Like always
The way that things were great
Like we wanted
The way we were
Exactly that
All in the past
Distantly a memory
That hurts
~~~
///flashback///the start of seventh year, 12 years ago - Hogwarts
##Harry##
The whole school applauded as Hermione Granger walked up to the centre of the hall, accepting her welcome as head girl. She smiled neatly and turned to shake the hand of her fellow, the head boy.
He clapped happily at her, she looked happy after all. Nothing gave anything away.
He pretended just as ever, just as last year. That everything was ok. That they were friends as they'd ever been.
But watching her chat away with the head boy on the train in her own private compartment had been quite testing of that arrangement, of him.
What ever it was that was ever happening between them, it made his blood boil sometimes.
And he scolded himself for begetting her anything other than happiness.
After last year nothing had been right.
There was that undenied tension that more than lingered with them together in a room. Undenied to fact but denied in reality to everyone, even their own lips, they never spoke of it.
He'd not figured out why but it was like they spiralled down, sinking in a ship and not getting off because no one wanted to bail the water out, no one wanted to say they were drowning.
And nobody else other than them could know.
After all they were perfect best friends
And nothing more.
The nothing more bit was what got them both.
They made a good job of lying to everyone, even themselves. The least that they knew the truth never gave him any joy. Only caused sadness.
And for his own pride he wouldn't say anything.
Couldn't.
And she didn't.
And there was nothing he could do.
But watch
Watch her laugh and smile with everyone but him.
Watch her close to tears rather than admit any feeling.
Watch the anger in the mirror when he woke up to his shameful self.
Nothing would be the same again, hadn't for a while. Wouldn't ever be.
Because often enough things refuse to stay the same way
///end flashback///
+++++
##Elianne##
Elianne's head whipped up at the mention of this.
"Sounds like more than a friend" Flora said, and Lucretia giggled with her at Cassy
A friend.
"Can I have a look at the letter?" she tried to cover her worry under an interested façade but she wasn't sure she succeeded
Nevertheless, Flora et al jumped with joy at a chance to see the letter and Cassy conceded to show them all.
In the dorms flora was the first to catch the paper from Cassy's hands. But Elianne couldn't care less, she'd spotted the writing on it and was now frantically searching her own trunk for a letter with a rather familiar ending.
She finally pulled it out and ripped the letter from Flora's hand much to her protest.
They all stood scared at her behaviour wondering what was wrong as she compared the two pieces of parchment.
Definitely the same handwriting. And if you looked very carefully you saw the sheen upon Cassandra's letter. A Charm. From a 'friend'.
"It's not a love letter, it's from the same person who warned me not to go out at Halloween, who didn't want me to save Anastis. Only they really meant to get you, Cassy. They want the gift and they've charmed this letter. I don't know why but I'm betting it isn't good."
Cassy went white with shock and started to cry, Dido supported her and helped her to a bed.
Meanwhile Lucretia insisted on inspecting the letters. Flora peered over their shoulders.
Lucretia announced to the room a minute later, confirming Elianne's outburst
"It's true, it's definitely the same person and it's definitely charmed. It's not a nice one either. Whoever it is wants you bad and they got Anastis instead the first time. Force didn't work so they went on to cunning. It's not your fault you didn't know; they were clever. As all schemers are."
Cassy dried her tears on her sleeve. Happier that she hadn't been easily fooled at least.
"But what do we do with it?"
One by one they glanced back and forth uncertainly.
Flora spoke up, "depends what charm it is. They want your gift so it probably controls it or something, would need to be near you."
"The sedestrious charm I think. For that to work it would need to exist." Dido smirked at them and grabbed the letter, casting it into the fire.
They gathered around the hearth in a semicircle, leaning on one another.
"I hope this works."
They all nodded watching the fire burn through it fiercely until only embers glowed and ashes were all that remained. A reminder that life was different now. That they were not in command of it.
~~~
As far as
The stars go
That's where I look to
My hopes all resting on
Some belief in what is right
And what is wrong
My eyes though
Only listen to the heavens song
The sparkle of star bright
Some likeness in my life
It lives up above
And in my heart
Dead it might be
But all I see is the past
Whatever that may be
Just a light
That warms
A smile
Just a life
Away
Drawn to it
Wishing on
As others did
The power fading
Waning for all
It is gone there
But I have here
And the times before
The ages I adore
My love fighting
For hope
Untangible
Flowing from one moment to another
Where does it go?
As far as
Where the stars are
~~~