CHARLIE RETURNED TO Romania the same night, his body feeling more tired than it ever had done his entire life before. He longed for the comfort of a hot shower and his warm bed. Throwing a look into the mirror he passed in the hallway of his small flat, staring back at him he found a defeated young man in his mid-twenties, red curls wildly dangling down his forehead, which was wrinkled in a frown. Deep shadows lay under his tired eyes, lids hanging heavy — but his mind was wide awake.
Miles further down, in the forests Transilvania, a pair of amber eyes stared into the darkness, watching shadows twisting beneath trees, listening into the night. Just as usual, no sound was heard in Ana's woodlands, not even the buzz of a fly. And for the first time in years, the silence bothered her.
Her eyes narrowed, as images of plain, cold stone walls flashed through her mind; walls without windows, without any light at all. And all of a sudden, the darkness seemed to press against her chest, to fill her lungs —
Red glowing eyes enflamed, and Ana felt the energy of her own forces lick up the skin of her palms, wandering up her wrist, covering her arms. With the cry of an wild animal, her hands flung forward, crismon glowing balls of her darkest energies shot into the blackness of the forest, for a second enlighten her surroundings, before they crashed into a tree. The wooden giant started to glow in the darkness, cracking, bursting, and slowly, gracious, it fell.
Panting heavy, Ana listened to that shattering sound, calming down to that thunderous melody snapping the utter silence she couldn't bear a second longer. The light in the palm of her hands died, the glowing in her eyes vanished, and stillness once more fell over this forsaken place.
"There once was this boy, an Obscurial just like you", Dumbledore's voice flashed through her memory, "His Obscurus could be controlled. Not by himself, I have to admit, but even though it had been extraneous influences that did control the creature inside Credence Barebone, it gained him much longer life than any Obscurial ever was given before." There was a pause. Young Anastasia had been week, tired, defeated. On the verge to death, she had known what the old wizard was going to ask, and she had been ready to agree.
"Whatever it takes", she'd muttered, her lips shaking.
"You're a brave girl, Ana", Dumbledore had replied, stroking over her head. "This won't be easy. It might be painful. We need to find a way to gain control. Several methods will have to be tested."
"I just don't want to die ..."
Weeks after this talk, oh, did Ana wish she could die, and how much she regretted every morning she nevertheless awoke, locked away, weaker than ever, and with an enemy inside her body; and hell was this enemy angry ...
•✧•
"What's up, Charlie? You look like something has knotted your wand." Tonks took the empty seat next to Charlie, her hair shining in the well-known bubblegum pink she used to wear ever since their days at Hogwarts. "Shouldn't you be partying with some Veela cousins?"
Charlie followed her nod, detecting a crowd of six stunningly beautiful witches amongst the wedding party, all of them with silverish blonde hair and porcelain skin, being surrounded by guys of every age.
"Seems like they already get enough attention, they don't need mine", Charlie replied with a smirk at his old school friend. "Remus seems a bit tensed", he added, spotting him next to Charlie's father, eyes flickering over the crowd in a restless motion.
"Always expecting the worst, this man", Tonks replied, a smile on her lips. "Sometimes I'm not sure if ol' Mad-Eye hasn't possessed my husband. Constant vigilance!" Shaken by quiet laughter, she turned back to Charlie. "But don't you change the subject, Weasley", she added. "What's wrong? There's a party going on, there are loads of single ladies, and I can't even get why you hadn't already a bottle of Firewhiskey burning your guts. This isn't the Charlie Weasley I know."
"It was an exhausting day", he chuckled, "but of course you don't know, huh? Always the bride, never the bridesmaid."
"But what a wonderful bridesmaid you were!", Tonks laughed, ruffling his hair. All of a sudden though, her smile faded, and a stern expression wrinkled her forehead. "You know you can tell me everything, you do, Charlie?"
Biting his tongue, he held his own smirk up as he looked back at her. He didn't wonder that she was concerned; Nymphadora Tonks was one of his oldest friends, and if Charlie had such as close friends despite fierce, dangerous dragons, Tonks was one of his closest. Even though they barely met each other during the past years, she still seemed to be able to read his mind like an open book.
Under normal circumstances, Charlie would have told Tonks anything bothering him; but these weren't normal circumstances. In his head were things that didn't belong there. Haunted by visions, and the memories of lavender scents and magnificent amber eyes, he didn't found much sleep lately. His thoughts were circling around Anastasia Voinescu like this woman had her own gravity.
"Everything's fine", Charlie said, shrugging. "Just tired. This wedding preparations really were exhausting, and I wouldn't mind to go to bed early toni—"
At that moment, something large and silver came falling through the canopy over the dance floor. Graceful and gleaming, the lynx landed lightly in the middle of the astonished dancers. Heads turned, as those nearest it froze absurdly in mid-dance. Then the Patronus’s mouth opened wide and it spoke in the loud, deep, slow voice of Kingsley Shacklebolt.
"The Ministry has fallen. Scrimgeour is dead. They are coming."
•✧•
YOU ARE READING
✔️ 𝐔𝐍𝐋𝐄𝐀𝐒𝐇𝐄𝐃 → 𝑐.𝑤𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑙𝑒𝑦
ספרות חובבים➥COMPLETED Dark, mysterious, powerful. When Charlie Weasley was given the order to find her and recruit her for the war, these were the words Dumbledore used to describe Anastasia Voinescu, an incredible young witch that chose her life as an outcast...
