Choosing Darkness

Kohl stood alone at the top of the astronomy tower, absently counting the number of times his braid slapped across his back from the breeze. The castle reminded him of his first-no-second home. In that castle, the battlements were as high and usually filled with the sounds of midnight troll golf. The rolling grasses and forest beyond lulled him into a bout of homesickness. He was glad he\'d be heading home in the morning, yet he hated to leave Arista here. Who know what added trouble she\'d get into? That, and she didn\'t take the suggestion of Harry and his friends coming home with them for holiday well, and he hated leaving her irritated.

His mind was drifting back to Arista again. She\'d be trying to contact Harry tonight via the Dream Zone. He didn\'t worry much, Drake was in the room with her. If any problems occurred, his \'younger\' brother was better equipped to help her than he. Nearly lost in his own thoughts, his supersensitive hearing picked up some movement behind him.

\"Leaving so soon?\"

The irritated swish of robes as the wizard turned gave Kohl a good indication of who had come up there. The silky, self important voice confirmed his suspicions. \"I was not aware of anyone on the Observatory...\" ~I didn\'t think I\'d find *you * here.~

Kohl smirked, turning to lean back on the ledge. \"I see. It is a good thing you happened to come here, tonight. I was planning to speak with you before I left.\"

Snape felt the heavy rock that had become his stomach bottom out. He was not immune to the dripping terror that radiated off this man, but he was not about to show that to anyone. Firmly in place was his mask of indifference, ready to turn into a sneer or a scowl at a moment\'s notice. \"What did you want to tell me?\"

\"I trust that you will keep Arista safe,\" Kohl stated without preamble. \"She is not an easy one to deal with.\"

\"You act like you\'re willing her to me. Are you ill?\"

The other man\'s eyes flashed as if he might have taken offense at the retort. \"I am the very image of Kai-ness, I can assure you. But Trouble seems to be a magnet to Arista, and vice versa. If something happens, I am reassured to know that she\'ll turn to you for help. And I also know that it is very difficult to resist a Unicorn\'s charms. That is her magic.\"

\"Magic?! You have fallen into this idea that she is some reincarnated beast as well?\" Snape sniffed stiffly, looking away from the slightly shorter man.

\"Belief imparts reality, friend,\" Kohl glanced skywards, taking note of the stars\' slightly unfamiliar positions in the sky.

\"How do you deal with the fact that she\'s a Necromancer?\"

The question was very quiet and low, but he heard the query as if it had been shouted. It\'d finally been asked. It mattered very little to Snape what beliefs she held on her own soul. Nor was he concerned about the little fact of a quick trist that was apparently unkown by the woman\'s mate. What concerned him most was her magical preference, and why she dealt with the dead. Kohl nodded, wondering if his explanation would only serve to damn her further in her collegues\' eyes. \"I was dead when she met me. Alive dead. And then she breathed life into my soul, and now I am what you see. It hasn\'t been easy, I\'ve lost some parts, here and there along the way. But she is truly the embodiment of the Goddess-at least, to me. Everything she touches becomes alive, wouldn\'t that offset the crippling effects of death magic?\" Kohl gently pushed himself away from the ledge and walked towards Snape as his destination was to go back to the dungons. \"I feel better knowing that she\'s here with you, in case something does happen. And feel priveledged, Professor. It is not everyday one is graced with a unicorn\'s fancy.\"


** **

Harry was in the courtyard a safe distance from the Willow. It was a flawless day, but oddly enough, there was no one else in the yard. In fact, it seemed as if there was no one within the castle\'s confines, either. Deserted. His vision rippled like he was staring into a pool that someone had tossed a stone into and he remembered vaguely that he was dreaming.

\"You made it,\" commented a warm voice behind him and he turned to see Arista a few paces away, sitting upon the eart and leaning against a stone bench. She held her arms crossed in front of her with a foot planted squarely on the ground. Her other foot was underneath the arch her knee made. Harry gave an uncertain smile, having never seen her in jeans and a tee, before, he didn\'t know what to expect.

\"Um...hi. Where are we, exactly?\"

\"In the Dream Zone,\" Arista drew up to her feet in one fluid movement. \"It\'s just us, right now. I had the potion set to filter out outside disturbances until you got a better hang of it all.\"

\"Did you take a potion, too?\"

Arista shook her head. Harry was lost for a moment as he watched her hair swing in slow motion across her face. Everything seemed to be going to slow motion. He was brought up to speed by the snapping of her fingers. \"Wake up. That\'s why I didn\'t take the potion. We\'d be here all night watching shinies float by. Besides, I still need to be in control for practice.\"

\"You said Sirius would be here.\"

\"Yes, but later. We need to be constructive first, so in case Voldemort happens upon you again...you\'ll be better prepared.\"

Harry nodded slightly. He was okay with the compromise. \"So, what are we going to do, Professor Starfyr?\"

\"First, we\'re going to be rid of that dreadfully long title. Call me Arista, or Lady, or Ari. But only in the \'Zone, as I\'d like to call it. Wolfie\'d have a fit if she knew I had students calling me by my first name, again. I picked this background because I felt you\'d be most comfortable here. Usually, I start with the classic \'white room\'. When you\'re in the \'Zone, you can make things as incredibly detailed as you want, or as vague as you want. You can change colors. For example...\" Arista chewed on her bottom lip in thought, \"Ah, the tree. How \'bout I turn it to a bright shade of red?\" At the mere mention of changing colors, the Whomping Willow became a startling shade of fire engine red. \"Things you need are suddenly in your hand,\" Arista raised her wand to him. \"Other things are extremely warped.\" A flick of her wand later, and Harry was holding onto a boquet of flowers spitting fountains of water from their centers.

\"Many things become warped, such as the ripple effect when someone enters your dream,\" Arista explained as she began walking. Harry followed after her, exhibiting the most curious sensation of walking in place as the world around him moved like a huge backdrop. The courtyard of Hogwarts repeated itself a couple times until the scenery began to take on a different feel.

\"Usually, until you get the half of it, you may become stuck on \'repeat\' for a while.\" Arista smirked. \"it\'s not easy to do this, and I have never claimed to be a Dream Weaver. You can get hurt in your dreams. You really don\'t feel pain, at least not until you wake up. The mind is a most powerful organ. It will make you believe that things are happening to your real body, where all it is, simply put, is in your head.\" Her face became very serious and somber when she spoke. \"So powerful, in fact, that if your mind believed you sustained so much damage that your body would cease to function, your body dies. And no one would know the true reason for your demise.\"

\"That\'s a horrible thought.\"

\"But true. The Dream Zone is simply a fine line, a threshold between our reality and the next. That\'s why Sirius can come and visit so easily.\"

\"Sir Nick...he said that once a soul decided to move on, there\'s no way to get them back. They don\'t become ghosts, I mean.\" Harry noticed that the trees had taken on a different shape. They weren\'t exactly the woods from Hogwarts or any other place in England that he knew about. Arista didn\'t seem all that alarmed, so he figured that it was something from her own memories. She didn\'t seem like she was going to reply to his statement, either.

\"So, this Dream Zone is kind of like a pensive?\"

\"Mmm...kind of. You can revisit anything you can remember, and some things you can\'t, if you\'re good enough. The \'Zone doesn\'t require your conscious memory to recall it once before to see it again.\" As if she\'d used a Transfiguration spell, her wand became a violet walking stick, complete with a garnet crystal on top. \"You can access others\' dreams from here, but that is not polite. No one that I know of has been able to regulate Dream Weavers.\"

\"Can you use magic, here?\"

\"The \'Zone is the most magical place in existance. It is not confined to the laws of the physical realm.\"

\"Accio walking stick!\" Harry grinned triumphantly as Arista\'s staff flew obediantly to his hand.

\"Very good. Now, if you can incorporate that to the waking realm, I\'ll be really impressed.\" With a wave of her own hand, she produced a twin staff. She turned and continued walking. \"They tell me that there was a very wise Chinese man. He dreamed that he was a flutterby one night, and the dream was so real, he pondered if he was a man dreaming he was a flutterby, or a flutterby dreaming he was a man.\"

\"His name was Confucious,\" Harry supplied. \"And...isn\'t it \'butterfly\'?\"

\"Why would someone name an insect that flutters after airborne milk fat?\"

Harry eyed her curiously. \"Where are we exactly?\" They had been travelling through a thick forest that had been sloping uphill.

\"Almost there,\" she soothed, bounding ahead in that strange, stomach twisting slow motion. Harry shook his head to clear it and found that she had already made it to the section of trees that seemed to be lighter. It must have been a break, because Arista returned to wait for him. She held branches aside from him so he would not be whipped. Harry\'s jaw went slack at the sight before him.

He was looking at a valley below them, shimmering with pearlescent white and grey waves. Every once in a while, there was a flash of bright light, as if the sun was catching on hand mirrors.

\"This was my home, once,\" Arista said softly, planting a hand on Harry\'s shoulder. \"I loved it here. So full and lush.\"

\"All of them are unicorns?\"

\"Every one. This is one of my favourite dreams. See that one there?\" Her voice was in a low, excited whisper in his ear. \"The mare with the really long horn and dark silver hide? Do you know who that is?\"

\"I don\'t know, Pr-Arista. There are only white unicorns at Hogwarts. And the black one that Professor Snape warned us about. He said it was killing people.\"

Arista frowned at that remark. \"If he were killing right and left, we\'d hear more about it. What Professor Snape saw was my friend protecting me.\" There was a shimmer across her vision, warning her of an extra being within her realm. \"That dark grey unicorn is me, three lifetimes ago.\"

\"You were a unicorn?\" Harry looked up, noticing that Arista\'s attention was suddenly drawn somewhere else. Fear struck him. \"Who is it?\"

\"Don\'t know. Be still and stay with me.\" She stepped back towards the dip of the valley with her hands firmly gripping the staff. Harry was silent, glad for once that he didn\'t have to take charge of his own welfare.

\"Never get used to someone taking care of you,\" Arista warned softly as if she could read his mind. \"Especially in the Dream Zone. And your thoughts are too loud.\"

\"I\'m ~thinking~ too loud?\"

\"-Expelliarmus!\"

The staff in Arista\'s hands flew out of them. \"Accio!\" she commanded, feeling the staff return to her palms with a solid thud.

\"STUPEFY!\" Harry called out from behind Arista, his staff becoming his wand and shooting out red sparks.

If she had a chance to praise him, she would have. Her feral grin would have to be enough as the opponent called out another hex. It was one that Harry never heard of, but Arista seemed to know enough as she shouted out the countercurse as soon as the last syllable left the opponent\'s mouth. Silence graced them a moment before a rich laughter echoed around them. A huge irish wolfhound came bounding out of the trees and headed straight for them.

\"Snuffles!\" Harry called out joyfully as the excuberant dog bowled him over.

Arista still held her staff ready, not quite convinced that this creature was friend. Her eyes narrowed a little as the rough and tumble dog turned into a man. Pitch colored hair and mishivious blue eyes glittered as he continued Harry\'s tickle attack.

\"No!\" Harry screamed between thrashing and giggling. \"Sirius, stop!\"

The man paused to glance at Arista. \"Wanna join?\"

Arista lowered her guard, her mouth twitching a little. \"That\'s okay. I\'ve enough brothers-in-law to keep me on my toes. So, is this how you\'re going to spend the rest of your free time?\"

\"Prob\'ly.\"

\"Sirius, no!\"

\"Riight. Well, Sirius, don\'t keep him up all night. Some of us have to sleep. There shouldn\'t be any problems, Harry. I\'ve warded this dream so its safe as long as you don\'t leave the valley.\"

\"Thanks, Arista,\" Harry waved as she faded into the trees. He turned to look at Sirius who had moved to sit by him to watch the unicorn herd. The elder man smiled softly when he felt Harry\'s gentle touch on his arm. \"I really thought I\'d never see you again.\"

\"Ye of little faith.\"

\"I mean it! I mean, you\'re dead and everything...how come you\'re here, anyway? Not that I\'m complaining, or anything. But it\'s just you, not Mum or Dad.\"

Sirius arched an eyebrow. \"Didn\'t Professor Starfyr explain it to you?\"

\"Not really.\"

\"She\'s a necromancer, Harry. She talks to dead people. Probably raises them up, too. But I wouldn\'t know anything about that. I found her because she was the only one who seemed good. And this is definitely something that Professor Snape can\'t do. He\'s still alive. We\'ve been planning this--\"

\"Planning this?\" Harry looked genuinely confused.

\"Don\'t worry about it. I can\'t tell you, at least not here. Even if this dream of your Professor\'s safe, I still can\'t chance it.\" Sirius puffed out his chest in pride. \"So, don\'t feel bad because I fell through that veil, Harry. I can do more good here and go further than anyone over there can. Even you, Harry. I can set this up. With Arista\'s help, I can get this ready so that you can defeat him once and for all, and you can finally have the life you deserve to have.\"

\"But that doesn\'t mean I\'ll have you back, will it?\"

There was a long moment of silence. \"No, I won\'t be back.\"

Harry brightened with hope. \"But you said that Arista can bring back the dead! She can bring you and Mum-\"

Sirius grasped both of Harry\'s shoulders as if to shake reason into him. \"No. Harry. That kind of life is not one worth living. I won\'t do that, and neither will she. She knows. It\'s not the same.\"