After Party

“Are you absolutely certain?” Mairead searched her beloved niece’s eyes looking for the unspoken answer.

“Yes. I won’t stand a chance with the next summons. I’ll be dead where I stand.” Natalie murmured disheartened.

“All right.” Mairead turned away from her niece to hide the sadness in her own eyes. “You have the word?” Mairead asked once more to reassure herself.

“Yes.” Natalie re-confirmed for what felt like the thousandth time. “Why didn’t my mother ever do this?” Natalie asked with her heart nearly breaking.

“Maeve wouldn’t give up her role as ccoilleneyder.” Mairead said sadly. “Perhaps you should sit down. I’ve never done this for a full-grown witch.” She eyed her niece with a hint of trepidation. “I’ll need your amulet, first.”

Natalie removed the gold chain from her neck, and immediately, the connections to those she had claimed intensified. She first felt Severus, who was sleeping rather peacefully. Then, she felt Dickson’s nausea as he suffered the aftereffects of her father’s poison. Natalie shuddered, closing her eyes and her mind to the connections. Mairead began complicated wand movements over the crystal which glowed brighter and brighter with each step in the charms cast.

In the ice cold dungeons of Durmstrang, Nathan studied an ancient looking text at his teacher’s desk in his classroom when suddenly his earring vibrated painfully, grew hot, and then ice cold in a matter of seconds. He grimaced, rubbing his abused ear lobe as he stood, walked to the work station, and set a fire under a cauldron.

“Battle stations,” he whispered to no one.

Across the miles, in a rather dingy bedroom, in a house in a dingy neighborhood, Snape sat bolt upright in his bed, rubbing his ankle furiously where the leather and amethyst bracelet was now knotted securely next to his bare skin.

“What the bloody hell was that?” He muttered angrily, knowing full well he’d never get back to his for once pleasant dream.

Nolan grimaced at the pain coursing through his finger through his amethyst ring.

“All right, pet?” Voldemort hissed at the young man.

“Muscle cramp.” Nolan lied skillfully, returning his attention to artfully losing yet another game of Wizard’s chess, sliding his hand under the table to hide the red mark growing under the ring.

Ana and Alexei’s marital activities ceased in the same instant, her chest burnt by the amethyst in her necklace, his ear turning bright red under the earring that matched Nathan’s.

“It begins.” Ana commented softly.

Alexei nodded in agreement, pulling his wife closer, tucking her small head protectively under his chin.

“Vee vill be ready.” Ana whispered, laying a possessive hand on her husband’s cheek.

Mairead set the altered crystal down, then turned her attention to her niece. She began to chant.

Misty white shapes swirled through Mairead’s sitting room, each with a barely audible voice whispering,

Natalie seemed to slip into unconsciousness, her head falling to the side of the chair. Mairead slipped the amethyst back around her neck, tucking a stray tendril of hair behind her ear.

“And so we begin in earnest.” She whispered, kissing Natalie’s forehead softly.