Choosing Darkness

Arista met up with the others in the infirmary, watching from the background as there was a flurry of movement. Hermione chewed on her bottom lip as Ron watched with abstract horror when the mediwitch spelled restraints on the flailing boy. Harry\'s seizuring was arching his back so far she feared that his spine would break. Arista\'s eyes narrowed as she watched, taking in all the symptoms. \"He\'ll choke if you give him that, Poppy,\" she murmured, startling the two students in front of her.

The mediwitch looked at Arista with great fear in her eyes. \"I can\'t use magic, Arista. When I tried in the common room,\" she jestured helplessly, \"this happened.\"

She pushed up from her seat and strode forward. \"May I?\" When Pomfrey nodded, Arista prodded Hermione and Ron forward. \"Come on, I need your help.\"

Hermione was the first to speak. \"What can we do, Professor?\" Arista said nothing as she positioned Ron at Harry\'s right and Hermione at his left. She instructed them to just stay close and not to touch Harry. Then she asked for a chair.

\"Don\'t be alarmed if I pass out,\" she murmured as she sat down at the head of the bed. Her left hand brushed against Harry\'s scar, and he instantly relaxed. Arista sat down in her seat and placed the palm of her left hand atop of Harry\'s forehead and entwined the fingers of her right hand with Harry\'s left. She heard anxious whispering in the back of her mind but ignored it. Arista pulled in a long breath, closing her eyes as she released it. She could feel the flutter of Harry\'s erratic pulse and tried to will it to a calm, steady beat. Upon the second breath, she could feel the stinging electric sparks pass between them. On the third pull, she slipped beneath the rippling waters of consciousness.

It took a few moments to seperate herself from the seering pain that Harry was experiencing. Arista was standing, but there was not visible floor Everything around her was black nothingness with the exception of objects in some spotlight overhead. They were random things created in her mind; an end table here, a standing lamp there. She swerved and nearly ran into a tall dark something with glittering blue ice for eyes.

\"Arista.\"

\"Sirius!\" she took a step back and gave the rough-hewn apparition a once-over. \"You look good.\"

A half-smirk formed on his lips, but it quickly faded. \"He\'s this way.\"

The two turned around and there was Harry in a spotlight, thrashing wildly and deep in the throes of a cruatius curse. Slightly beyond was another figure, blacker than pitch and looming over the young man.

Sirius\' eyes went wide. \"Harry!\"

Arista ordered as her wand appeared in her hand. \"Finite Incanteum!\" Harry collasped on the floor of nothingness, his breathing coming in great gasps. The dark figured moved, shifting its attention to Arista. She didn\'t give it time to register her presence and charged after it, her wand now a deadly silver rod.

It met her head on with blood red eyes, its bony hands grabbing her wrists. Arista struggled to break free, her teeth clenchind tightly. \"What do we have here?\" rumbled the creature. \"You\'re too pretty to be something dangerous. How dare you foil my plans!\"

She threw her weight backwards, swinging the man around. \"Get out of his head!\" She growled, throwing him to the far end of nothing-ness.

A roar of outrage swept over all of them and Sirius and Arista were temporarily blinded by black light. \"BEWARE THE WRATH OF VOLDEMORT!\"

\"Who?\" Arista taunted, trying to squint enough to see in the blinding dark.

\"You know not who I am?\"

She felt movement and dodged away from the attack. \"And I should bother to find out, why?\" Sirius, you need to get Harry awake!\"

Sirius nodded even though he could no longer see Arista or the Dark Lord. Thankfuly, he could see Harry now limp and very unconscious. He started patting Harry\'s cheek. \"Harry? Wake up, son. Wake up!\" The pats became slaps as he tried to rouse the young man.

A small groan came from Harry\'s mouth and his long lashes fluttered open. A moment later Harry\'s eyes went into focus. Heavy lids opened wider. \"Sirius!\"

\"Yes! Harry, we\'ve got to-oomph!\" He was caught off guard by the death grip around his neck.

\"You\'re alive!\" Harry cried out joyfully.

Sirius\' smile went bittersweet as he pulled Harry away to arm\'s length. \"You have to save your teacher.\"

\"What?\"

\"You have to wake up. Arista\'s trying to keep Voldemort occupied so that you can wake up.\"

Confusion hit Harry\'s eyes. \"Where are we? What do you mean, wake up...am I still asleep?\" Green flashed towards blue. \"You\'re still dead?\" He couldn\'t hide the tremor in his voice.

\"Well, um....Look, we don\'t have time to discuss this. Arista\'s back--\" Sirius darted his nervous gaze back to the blackness. \"She\'s back there, and Voldemort\'s doing Merlin-Knows-What to her. Because you\'ve got that mind connection, he can access you through your dreams, possibly even be YOU when you\'re asleep. You need to wake up to help her--\"

\"No! I don\'t want to wake up. Sirius, we\'re supposed to be together at your house in London. I have no one else. No more family. I don\'t want to be there.\"

\"Harry-\"

\"I don\'t want to wake up! Please, don\'t make me wake up.\"

Sirius shook his head slowly. Apparently, he was the only one who could hear the scuffle behind the veil. He heard Arista\'s breath catch and then gurgle as she struggled to draw in more air. Even though it was Harry\'s dream, or his plane of existance, she still could perish. But Harry didn\'t understand that; that was the lesson Arista needed to teach them all. No place was truly safe until Voldemort was gone, and gone for good. He had been impatient and frustrated with his appointed tasks, or lack there of when he was alive, but now death had mellowed him. He had seen the future. The What-Ifs of life should the scales tip and Balance fall. Sirius had determined that the only way he could help his godson was to fight the Veil at the Ministry of Magic the best he could, and even though he could not bring himself back to life, he could find the help that Albus needed.

It was Sirius who had found the woman in her own world of magic and unicorns and these strange people who looked like twin brothers, only there were many. It was he who blew the winds of whisper and idea into the folly of seekers that Albus thought were mighty. But that was the shortcoming of the living. They could not go where HE could go. And she Listened. All his life, he had heard the terrible stories of Necromancers and how they were a perversion of all that was good. Even Voldemort used one of their spells, but only once, to gain life again. Now, the Dark Lord never looked back. Arista was different, and he had yet to find out why. He spoke slowly.

\"You have to. I don\'t want you to end up like me.\"

Harry clung to him as tears squeezed out of his tightly shut eyes. \"I\'m sorry! I\'m sorry I didn\'t use the mirrors. I forgot about that present. It was stupid to listen to Kreacher, I know that now.\"

\"Harry, you need to listen to me...it can\'t go back to the way it was before. Voldemort will win. Do you want that, Harry? Do you want other kids to be orphans? Do you?\"

\"...no...\"

\"Then wake up,\" Siruis\' eyes glittered with frustration, fear, love, regret. His strong hands gripped Harry\'s shoulder, preparing to shake some sense into him. \"Please, wake up, Harry!\"

\"But...but what about you?\"

\"I never left you, Harry. I\'ll still be here in your dreams. Arista\'ll teach you how to listen. WAKE UP!\"



Arista grit her teeth as she stared at Voldemort. The Dark Wizard grinned evilly as he watched his prize pet squeeze the life out of her. \"Now, as you must know, my pretty, that dreams are relatively safe. Unless you die in them, of course.\"

She couldn\'t inhale and she didn\'t dare exhale. Her eyes spat out anger as she tried to struggle. But even as she moved, she could feel the coils of the giant snake tighten and crack against her bones. She couldn\'t deal with this for much longer. Then a thought came across her and her grimace became a feral grin. A moment later and the snake shrieked and tried desperately to uncoil from Arista. The woman freed herself, showing that the silver rod had vicious thorns coming from it that pierced both the snake and her side. Arista continued stabbing and slicing at the creature with her wand turned blade. Blood flowed freely from several deep lacerations. Voldemort gave an inhuman screech as he levelled his wand at her.

\"Avada Kedav-\"

Arista sprung out of the way, tumbling over the chain and landing on the floor by Ron\'s feet. She heard Harry cry out his godfather\'s name as light blinded her all around. Pomfrey was at her side.

\"Take care of him,\" she coughed, wondering if her ribs were broken. She blinked, seeing Dumbledore, McGonagall, and Snape looking sternly at her. \"Crap.\" Her hand came away from her side, revealing a growing red stain.

\"Where\'s Sirius?!\" Harry demanded. \"He was here! He WAS!\"

\"What. Did. You. Do.\" Severus growled at her as Pomfrey drowned Harry in a calming potion.

\"I saved his life,\" Arista responded, sitting up and trying to staunch the flow of blood. \"What do you think I did?\"

Snape opened his mouth to respond, but Albus was faster in speaking. \"We will have this discussion in my office, once your wounds are addressed.\" He turned and left the infirmary with McGonagall following. Snape sneered at Arista one last time before going the same route. She whispered a word and then took to her feet. Hermione and Ron were too busy with Harry to notice her leave and head for the Headmaster\'s office.