‹ Prequel: The Dark Witch
The Return of the Dark Witch
The Dark Lord
P.O.V – Becky Sinclair
At this moment, I don’t know what was making me more nervous. The looming Hogwarts castle in front of me that had been the center point of most of my thoughts since Mrs. Lankins had mentioned it. Or the extremely intimating man beside me, that my memory (?) had indicated was called, Severus Snape, who kept throwing me looks similar to if I had killed his one true love or something.
Honestly, he hadn’t stopped glaring at me since he appeared outside the carriage, and I could have sworn I saw the tip of his wand, pointing in my direction, more than once.
What could I have possibly done to tick him off? Unless…was Sirius right? Were my dreams memories? Had the obliviate thingamajig that Mrs. Lankins had mentioned, really been cast on me? But even if both of them were right. If my memory had been erased and I was slowly recovering it through headaches and dreams, the time frame was all wrong.
I mean, in my ‘memory’ Snape had been around my age, he now looks well beyond that. At the very least, 15 years older or so, and if that was the case, which it is, then how am I still 16?
How come I have a childhood? Albeit not a great one, but still I had it. So it’s not like someone made me forget my life and froze me in time. Only to ‘wake me up’, implant new memories, then place me in a mental asylum…
Hold on, you know, with everything I’ve discovered lately…
My thoughts trailed off, having finally reached the top of the castle steps. The two enormously large oak doors in front of me and Snape, swinging open, revealing to me, for the first time, I think, the inside of Hogwarts castle. It truly was an amazing sight. Everything was just so…
I had seen pictures of the inside of castles before, in books at the orphanage, but to see one up close…was the ceiling really that high?
Stepping inside, I could see, what seemed to be the dining hall. As there were four, extremely long, tables both placed upon either side of the large candlelit room. In which the candles appeared to be floating from the ceiling...
Woah. I thought. That's different.
I tilted my head, still staring at the blue floating candles.
And kinda...cool.
I turned my gaze back to the tables, that, at the moment, were filled with students. Various house colors, different per house and per table, adorning, their otherwise, black uniforms.
The feast had already started, it seemed. Not a big suprise, considering how long it had taken me to get here.
I could clearly see Draco among the students, sitting at the far right table, imitating to his fellow Slytherins, the ones wearing the colors green and silver along with their black robes, the act of crushing a nose.
Huh? Wonder what that is about?
In the center of the room, was a small line of new, first year, students that appeared to be waiting to wear a large ancient looking, pointed hat.
That must be the sorting, I thought as I heard the word, Ravenclaw, shouted out. Causing an older looking woman to remove the hat from a small boy, allowing him to jumb off the stool and join, what must be, the Ravenclaw table. Another new student, a girl, taking his place wearing the hat.
Above where the sorting was taking place, was yet another table. Where it looked liked the teachers were seated, as the people seated there were clearly not apart of the student population.
My gaze automatically was drawn towards the head of the table. Towards the Albus Dumbledore I had heard so much about.
He was older than even I had expected, an extremely long white beard extending from his chin and disapearing underneath the table, but he had a certain air about him, even discernable from my distance.
I swallowed nervously.
Well, it was time to step in there, I guess. After all, I had to be sorted sometime right?
I made a move towards the dining hall, away from Snape’s side.
“You are not to go in there, Becky.” There he goes, emphasizing my name again. I was getting agitated now. I’m really sick of this, being intimated by the likes of him, when I haven’t done anything wrong. People of done this to me my whole life, that I uh, remember, and it just wasn’t fair. I felt the beast inside me from earlier return, and I whipped around to face Snape.
“Why ever not?” I demanded, my eyes flashing dangerously. I practically could feel fire surging from my fingertips.
Snape, on the other hand, remained cool and collected, “Because you simply are not wanted there, Becky.”
I frowned, as he directed me into a small classroom, just off the entrance hall. Shutting the door after me.
“You see,” Began Snape icily, stepping towards me, now I know I could see his wand. He was clearly holding it now, aiming it directly at me. I looked back and forth between him and it, “because although you were cleared to become a student in this school, Dumbledore, is….” He trailed off for a moment, “lets just say, he is wary of your presence here, Maria.”
That name, I took a step back. It’s what Sirius had called me. What I had dreamed…
I could feel the pounding in my head begin, and I raised one of my hands to clutch my forehead.
“Do you think the Dark Lord is pleased with what you have done?” Snape said accursedly, he voice however, remaining soft, “You are a disgrace twice over, Dark Witch.” He spat, his glare intensifying as my headache grew, “You had one mission, deliver Potter and his friends, you failed,”
The pain in my head was searing now, and I fell to my knees, clutching it.
“You then, not only marry Black,”
I looked up at him, my eyes watering with pain.
His lips tightened, “And yes, Maria, the Dark Lord was and is, aware of your little ceremony.” Snape stepped forward to stand over me, “But you also turn spy. Oh not in the conventional way, of course. You only thwart the Dark Lord’s plans, you never pass on information.”
The world around me began to flicker…
“You then were caught, by none other than the Dark Lord, himself…”
That dream I had before I was rescued from the asylum, the forest, the rat, Voldemort’s red eyes…
“trying to force the rat, Pettigrew, to betray him…” Snape’s voice touched a different pitch at that point, and for a second, through my haze, I almost thought I saw…never mind.
“The Dark Lord was merciful to you Maria, and you still managed to ruin his arrangements. But you couldn’t hide forever. He knows who you are, Becky. He knows everything you do, everything you touch…he’s the only reason you are here at Hogwarts, Becky Sinclair, and not at his side.” Snape’s voice softened further, “You are needed here, and the second you aren’t, you will be removed.”
Everything was slowly turning black…
“The Dark Lord is behind everything, Maria Le Fay, and there is nothing you can do can change that.”
Everything went dark.
At this moment, I don’t know what was making me more nervous. The looming Hogwarts castle in front of me that had been the center point of most of my thoughts since Mrs. Lankins had mentioned it. Or the extremely intimating man beside me, that my memory (?) had indicated was called, Severus Snape, who kept throwing me looks similar to if I had killed his one true love or something.
Honestly, he hadn’t stopped glaring at me since he appeared outside the carriage, and I could have sworn I saw the tip of his wand, pointing in my direction, more than once.
What could I have possibly done to tick him off? Unless…was Sirius right? Were my dreams memories? Had the obliviate thingamajig that Mrs. Lankins had mentioned, really been cast on me? But even if both of them were right. If my memory had been erased and I was slowly recovering it through headaches and dreams, the time frame was all wrong.
I mean, in my ‘memory’ Snape had been around my age, he now looks well beyond that. At the very least, 15 years older or so, and if that was the case, which it is, then how am I still 16?
How come I have a childhood? Albeit not a great one, but still I had it. So it’s not like someone made me forget my life and froze me in time. Only to ‘wake me up’, implant new memories, then place me in a mental asylum…
Hold on, you know, with everything I’ve discovered lately…
My thoughts trailed off, having finally reached the top of the castle steps. The two enormously large oak doors in front of me and Snape, swinging open, revealing to me, for the first time, I think, the inside of Hogwarts castle. It truly was an amazing sight. Everything was just so…
I had seen pictures of the inside of castles before, in books at the orphanage, but to see one up close…was the ceiling really that high?
Stepping inside, I could see, what seemed to be the dining hall. As there were four, extremely long, tables both placed upon either side of the large candlelit room. In which the candles appeared to be floating from the ceiling...
Woah. I thought. That's different.
I tilted my head, still staring at the blue floating candles.
And kinda...cool.
I turned my gaze back to the tables, that, at the moment, were filled with students. Various house colors, different per house and per table, adorning, their otherwise, black uniforms.
The feast had already started, it seemed. Not a big suprise, considering how long it had taken me to get here.
I could clearly see Draco among the students, sitting at the far right table, imitating to his fellow Slytherins, the ones wearing the colors green and silver along with their black robes, the act of crushing a nose.
Huh? Wonder what that is about?
In the center of the room, was a small line of new, first year, students that appeared to be waiting to wear a large ancient looking, pointed hat.
That must be the sorting, I thought as I heard the word, Ravenclaw, shouted out. Causing an older looking woman to remove the hat from a small boy, allowing him to jumb off the stool and join, what must be, the Ravenclaw table. Another new student, a girl, taking his place wearing the hat.
Above where the sorting was taking place, was yet another table. Where it looked liked the teachers were seated, as the people seated there were clearly not apart of the student population.
My gaze automatically was drawn towards the head of the table. Towards the Albus Dumbledore I had heard so much about.
He was older than even I had expected, an extremely long white beard extending from his chin and disapearing underneath the table, but he had a certain air about him, even discernable from my distance.
I swallowed nervously.
Well, it was time to step in there, I guess. After all, I had to be sorted sometime right?
I made a move towards the dining hall, away from Snape’s side.
“You are not to go in there, Becky.” There he goes, emphasizing my name again. I was getting agitated now. I’m really sick of this, being intimated by the likes of him, when I haven’t done anything wrong. People of done this to me my whole life, that I uh, remember, and it just wasn’t fair. I felt the beast inside me from earlier return, and I whipped around to face Snape.
“Why ever not?” I demanded, my eyes flashing dangerously. I practically could feel fire surging from my fingertips.
Snape, on the other hand, remained cool and collected, “Because you simply are not wanted there, Becky.”
I frowned, as he directed me into a small classroom, just off the entrance hall. Shutting the door after me.
“You see,” Began Snape icily, stepping towards me, now I know I could see his wand. He was clearly holding it now, aiming it directly at me. I looked back and forth between him and it, “because although you were cleared to become a student in this school, Dumbledore, is….” He trailed off for a moment, “lets just say, he is wary of your presence here, Maria.”
That name, I took a step back. It’s what Sirius had called me. What I had dreamed…
I could feel the pounding in my head begin, and I raised one of my hands to clutch my forehead.
“Do you think the Dark Lord is pleased with what you have done?” Snape said accursedly, he voice however, remaining soft, “You are a disgrace twice over, Dark Witch.” He spat, his glare intensifying as my headache grew, “You had one mission, deliver Potter and his friends, you failed,”
The pain in my head was searing now, and I fell to my knees, clutching it.
“You then, not only marry Black,”
I looked up at him, my eyes watering with pain.
His lips tightened, “And yes, Maria, the Dark Lord was and is, aware of your little ceremony.” Snape stepped forward to stand over me, “But you also turn spy. Oh not in the conventional way, of course. You only thwart the Dark Lord’s plans, you never pass on information.”
The world around me began to flicker…
“You then were caught, by none other than the Dark Lord, himself…”
That dream I had before I was rescued from the asylum, the forest, the rat, Voldemort’s red eyes…
“trying to force the rat, Pettigrew, to betray him…” Snape’s voice touched a different pitch at that point, and for a second, through my haze, I almost thought I saw…never mind.
“The Dark Lord was merciful to you Maria, and you still managed to ruin his arrangements. But you couldn’t hide forever. He knows who you are, Becky. He knows everything you do, everything you touch…he’s the only reason you are here at Hogwarts, Becky Sinclair, and not at his side.” Snape’s voice softened further, “You are needed here, and the second you aren’t, you will be removed.”
Everything was slowly turning black…
“The Dark Lord is behind everything, Maria Le Fay, and there is nothing you can do can change that.”
Everything went dark.