under the spell

[Professor Elvera Le Fey]

It was dark, but as it was the middle of winter that didn't say much. Elvera She didn't even know if it was the evening or morning. but as i was the middle of winter it could be any time between about five in the evening or eight in the morning. it was the first time in months that she had left her office for months since the end f november other than the odd trip home when she had been forced over christmas which had not been a good experience. dressed in a simple white dress that morgan had put her in the previous day after she had bathed her. that was what her life had been to sitting in a trance with even eating was something morgan had to force her to do though since she had started getting visits from cyndi she was at least shuffling cards and doing some readings.
the question remained why was she wandering the castle at these hours? elvera didn't know it was as though someone else was controlling her body. the corridors were empty and it wasn't long until she reached where she was going on the first floor. the rooms of her friend Icarus. once she reached the door she knocked hoping that it wasn't an unsocial hour. the corridors were empty so it may be due to the fact that it was either the holidays or after hours (though as a professor she wouldn't be in any trouble, at least not officially though she was sure he wouldn't be happy if it was three in the morning) she waited. still not feeling quite herself. she wanted to turn and leave but her body wouldn't let her. it wanted to be here, she didn't know why. inside she wondered what she was going on this wasn't like her at all. then she remembered something, something she had been trying to forget. the family curse, the thing she seemed to have fallen victim to.

 

[Icarus Stratis]

Icarus has stooped almost inside an old truck that he had left abandoned in a corner of his empty office. Holidays had arrived and while not having any classes for the second semester, most of his stuff were moved back to his place as he was visiting Hogwarts only for a few patrols and some paperwork. Although he was thinking of dropping his post as a flying professor, he had changed his mind for a couple of reasons. His family was in a state of emergency after his uncle got abducted. His parents, his brother and the rest of the family arrived in New Zealand ever since to support his aunt and find out whether they were safe or they were as well a target. Although his uncle's neoclassical house was big enough to accommodate all of them, he had as well to accomodate at his place his brother and a couple of his cousins, leaving him with no privacy. Keep being a professor in Hogwarts at least was going to give him his own office and room that he really needed. This however, wasn't the main reason he decided to stay at least for one more year.

His uncle's older son, Minoas, who was studying in Hogwarts looked like was really affected by the recent event that hit the family. He was there when his father was abducted and ever since he was behaving oddly, looking depressed and distant. Minoas' mother had asked Icarus to keep an eye on him and Icarus had decided to help since he was welcomed by his uncle's family the first time he set a foot in New Zealand few years back. That and the fact that he hadn't found a good substitute to take over the post had made him to postpone his resignation for a little bit longer.

The castle should be almost empty by now. The graduation was over days ago and students had returned back to their houses like Minoas did. If there was anyone around that would be staff members that were either going to spend their holidays there or they had still some work to get done. Icarus however was there for a very different reason. It might was past midnight but the professor had no plans of going to sleep. Instead, he was seeking the company of a good book to chum him until early morning. He made a mess of his place to find a particular book that he wanted to read (not that this needed a lot of effort when it was already a mess with his brother and his cousins staying there) but it didn't seem to be there. Then he remembered that he had taken it to his office during first semester and decided since he had nothing else to do to fly with his broom at Hogwarts and search for it in his office. His broom was leaning by the closed window he had entered upon his arrival and he was pulling long forgotten objects of his trunk while searching for the book. A knock on his door astonished him and made him bump his head on the open lid of the trunk. He snapped his fingers and the objects returned back into the trunk which closed in the end. He head for the door as he was rubbing the spot on his head that he bumped.

He was surprised that someone was looking for him. He hadn't said to anyone that he was around the castle and he was pretty sure that he entered from his office's window pretty discretely. There was a short pause after he opened the door as his gray eyes blinked surprise. "Elvera!" he exclaimed and wide opened his door.
"How are you? Come, come inside." he invited her holding the door for her.
"I didn't know you were still around the castle." he said when she stepped inside and closed the door.
It was a long time since the two of them have hanged out, mainly because there was an awkward moment between them. At least that was why he hadn't searched for her company all that time. But Icarus was a rather shallow guy when it came to romance and he had long cast away that memory to his convinience. He was acting like nothing had ever happened. He noticed that except from his own chair he had no other inside his office. With a wave of his hand, a comfortable armchair appeared in front of his desk. "Here, have a seat." he pointed at the newly summoned armchair and he had a seat as well. "Sorry for the mess but it has been ages last time I was here." he said and casted a look around him, slightly embarassed for the disorder around them.
"Fancy a coffee? A tea maybe?" he offered his hospitality straight away as a true Stratis he was.

 

[Professor Elvera Le Fey]

Elvera heard a bump inside the office this noice brought her back to where she was. why was she here? she didn't know she wished she was back in the calm comfort of the divination tower. her windowsill with the spectacular view of the grounds. the place where she had spent the makority of the last few months. se had just about managed to force her body to turn around and take a few sept towards the tower when the door behind her opened and she heard Icarus say her name. automatically she felt her body turn and take up his invitation of entry in a matter of moments. smiling the sort of smile that wasn't very elvera at all as it was too confident. I'm very good thank you. and yourself. though i have missed seeing you" she said taking a seat he had just created. the last time they had hung out had been over a year ago when they had had a baking contest. the end of that meeting had been when she had really started to ike him, sure she had had a crush on him before but it was when they had kissed that she had felt that he may like her in return though she had been sure he had been far to good at his sport to like a bookworm like her. alas that wasnt the case, hardly two weeks later she had discovered from her twin he was dating someone ese, and not just any someone else that someone was Kida, Edens best friend. now it seemed everything that girl did annoyed her, and she wasn't one to easily get annoyed, and he disliked practically no one else. all this is history now[/i[ she thought to herself as hard as she could to stop her mind making her say something else. "the mess is no problem" she said. "I am really sorry for bothering you specially at this hour" she said having see nthe clock on the wall saying it was after midnight. why was she doing this? and why at this hour? she didnt know. she hadn't got any control over it and she just knew it would come out inles she managed to get away quickly. "no thank you" she said to the offer of tea or coffee. if she had a drink she would feel obliged to stay intil the end instad of leaving quickly before embarrassing herself. however the trance was strengthening again. "I really am sorry about bothering you at this ungodly hour but i have something i need to tell you" she said before managing to clench her jaw shut so as to not embarrass herself. however i was surl too late for tat now, he would almost undoubtedly asker what it was that he needed to know tht would being her here at two in the moring.

 

[Icarus Stratis]

It didn't took long, even for Icarus to realize that something have been bothering Elvera. There were rumours that something had happened to the divination professor that had made her stop teaching and get substituted by her own mother. Icarus had also accidentaly heard about another rumour from a group of students that Elvera was sick or something. Of course he really didn't pay attention to that as he knew pretty well that sometimes people were getting nasty by slandering others to feel better themselves or they just loved a good gossip even if it wasn't true. "Nah. You don't have to apologize. I wasn't really doing anything. Just-" he paused for a moment and casted another look at the mess around them. "Just searching." he concluded with a wide smile.
He didn't insisted when she declined his offer for a drink. The truth was that he had nothing in his office at the moment but could always call the house elves for reinforcements. He was going once more to tell her that there was no point in apologizing but he focused on the fact that she wanted to tell him something. He stayed silent for a few moments, looking puzzled as he had no idea what she wanted to tell him. Was she planning to tell him for a long time? How did she know that he was in the castle? Of course. She was a seer she could see things and other people couldn't. That detail had escaped him and he suddenly grew worried. She could have seen something about his family. Maybe something about his missing uncle. "Please. I'm all ears." he said and sat comfortably on his chair, not wanting to draw hasty conclusions.

 

[Professor Elvera Le Fey]

Elvera wished she would leave she would rather have another month of the nothing than this bu she knew it was time. she knew she would be the one in the family who would have corried the curse that was more than a family myth than anything that could be proven. trying to stall herself she ooked around the room. "what were you looking for, maybe i could help look" she said. this was odd she felt more like her normal sif, more concious of her own actions than she had in moths but that was also mied with conciousness of actions that werent what she wanted to do.
She didnt know where to start. she swallowed the part of her that was in the trance still wasnt brave as it wanted to be. "I carus I havent been completely truthful with you" she said to start it, gosh elvera what a great start that was she thought. "Well i have, but i havent told you the whole truth. remember when i told you about my family, how seeing is passed down through the generations. well there is more than just that" she said. that was slightly better. she started to fitget with a loose piece of cotton on her dress. "it is true that every generation a seer i born, there are requirements to that seer and like in my generation ther is occasionalyl two though that isnt often. but that seer, ir one of them, carrys the line of the family and well they cet caught in what we call the family curse." she said. "we dont know if it is a real curse but it does seem to hit every generation of the family." she paused and swallowed a lump in her throat. she wished she had a little water as her mough had cone dey and she wanted something cool to drink. she bowed her head briefly in what could be a seconds prayer.
"one clause is that we will loose someone we love and as a result freeze ourself in time, that hapened to morgan when Eden and i were born, she thought she had miss caried Eden and as a result spent twelve years in the nothing. it happened to me in november. all first term i was unwel and then i colapsed in class and got sent to st mungoes where i was told i would never be able to have children. that loss was enough to spark it." she said her eyes starting to fill with tears. "I am still in the noting though morgan and Cyndi are helping me more than they know. in fact i don't know quite how a was able to come here, actually my body seemed to force me to come and tell you all this" she said. only then she was able to bite her cheek to stop herself talking. please Elvera don't say any more. you have said more than enough already. and don't forget HE ALREADY HAS A GIRLFRIEND. she pegged and shouted at herself. thankfully at the moment she was able to stop herself. holding her breath to stop more words flying out she watched waiting to see what his reaction would be.

 

[Icarus Stratis]

Her behavior was confusing him. One moment she was going to tell him something really important which she didn't know how exactly to express it and then she was asking him what he was searching for in his office that late. "Nothing special. Just a book that I remembered and I really wanted to read today. Quidditch stuff." he said with a grin as he realized how unusual it was to say that he was searching for a book. He was more like the type of person that he could be searching for a quidditch robe rather than a book.
His need to read that book had vanished now. He was curious to hear what Elvera had to say. He was still afraid that she might have foreseen something important about his family.

His forehead wrinkled. There was more confusion as Elvera started talking, confessing that she wasn't truthful to him. He frowned slightly as he tried to understand what she was meaning. It turned to be something about her family's gift. He remembered that her family tree was consisting of generations of sheers but he didn't know about the family curse she referred to. Icarus had no knowledge about divination stuff, although his own grandmother was a seer. In his case, he hadn't inherited the gift nor his brother or cousins. Furthermore, he believed that divination was an art with no solid boundaries. There wasn't facts but just generalizations that he couldn't believe in them. Elvera was opening her heart to him but he couldn't comprehend most of the things she was saying. He let her finish before asking the questions that were born in his mind.
"I'm sorry that you've been all through this. I had no idea." he said sincerely, realizing that the rumours he had heard were at some points true. There was that sense of guilt crawling somewhere within him when she told him that she had only the support of her mother and Cyndi. He should have supported her as well despite his distrust of families' curses.

"We live in a magical world Elvera. Everything is possible. The fact that the healers told you that you can't have children might be there but doesn't mean that they are right." he tried to channel some courage to her. He wasn't sure what was worse. Her situation that was triggered by the unpleasant event or the news that she couldn't have her own children. "It's good that you came here and talk to me. Talking about your problems is only going to benefit you." he said when she wondered why her body had gotten her in his office. She needed someone to talk and combined with her ability, she probably was able to sense his presence.
"There must be a way to fix this. What the healers told you about the curse. Is there any way to break it?" he asked, guessing that the healers would have advised her on how to release herself from the trance she was trapped.

 

[Professor Elvera Le Fey]

Trying to put off the rest of her speal she glanced around the room for a book. there werent that many around. "isnt that it" she said pointing to what looked like a book shape under some clothes. however all to soon her speel had come. "there isnt anthing people can do" the said the tone of defeat in her voice was unmistakable. a few tears started to fall although she had tried to proice herself no more tears but then she had broken enough promices to herself in the past for that to not be a surprise. "It wasnt the healers who said. it is a family myth passed on to mother or grandmother to daughter." she said she had learned it in parts from morgan, morgause and from old books and journals she had found and read. "there are no ways to break it." she said "I have been looking into it since i learned about it, nothing" she mumbled however the trance came back it was like she was sleeptalking but watching herself say it. "thats not all though, I know that eventually the trance will end, even if it is in a decade. and if i cant have children i will have to adopt like morgan does. but there is moe than that. you see the trance isnt just the effects. there are other things. the one to carry the line will love, but only once. I tried for years not to love anyone however i failed" she said sipley. hopefully she will be able to stop there. she didnt want to mes up or ruin the poor mans life. no names, she told herself sternly. you don't need to mention who it is. he has a right to a happy life without you messing things up for him. she thought. though if he was even a fraction as smart as she knew he was he would put two and two together and get nine.