Path Taken Before
Chapter 16: Path Taken Before
27th August 1938,
"Albus, is that you?" An old woman dressed in a vibrant violet and gold lace summer robes rushed the three of them the moment they stepped into the Leaky Cauldron for their lunch. Her pale wrinkly face and milky green eyes were distinct as was her red painted lips which stretched into a thin smile. She moved her grey hair out of her face and peered down at the two. "And who might you two be? New students?" She questioned, her eyes boring into Tom and Cordelia's. She didn't move even when Tom defiantly stared back at her, only grinning wider as she stared back. Cordelia could've sworn she saw the fog in the old woman's eyes clear for a moment as she recoiled and took a step back from Tom as if his presence scared her. "You!" She hissed quietly before her vision fogged up and she moved closer to the pub's walls.
"Afternoon, Cassandra." Professor Dumbledore seemed pleased to the old woman as he led the two children into a quiet corner of the pub. "Doing some last minute shopping, are we?" He asked, ignoring the strange woman's odd antics. Professor Dumbledore seemed good at ignoring the strangest things so much so that Cordelia had to take her attention away from the old woman and stare at the eccentric professor while wondering who out of the two were stranger.
"Afternoon and y-yes." The old woman stuttered out. Her foggy eyes would travel to Tom every second before she looked away.
Professor Dumbledore once again ignored the sudden strangeness of the woman and turned to Cordelia and Tom. "This is Professor Vablatsky, she's the divination professor at Hogwarts." He introduced the woman to the children. "A very talented seer."
"Pleasure to meet you." Tom greeted curtly, giving Professor Vablatsky a complicated look. The old woman's body shook violently with each word that spilled out of Tom's mouth. "Are you okay professor?"
Professor Vablatsky smiled stiffly and nodded, bells that hung in her hair sang a soft melodic tune as she moved. Transfixed, Cordelia stared at the bells. "Just late summer chills, my boy, nothing to worry about." Though Cordelia could clearly tell that Professor Vablatsky was worried about something. The way she nervously moved and stared at Tom with her foggy gaze told Cordelia enough.
Impatiently, Cordelia tapped her feet. Her stomach twisted in on itself as the smell of freshly baked bread, onion soup, spices and honey wafted through the air. Though, she wasn't too keen on eating, she was exhausted from running around Diagon Alley with Professor Dumbledore and Tom. Somehow, her hunger had returned albeit a little and she was annoyed at the delay.
"I thought seers were rare." Cordelia said, breaking the strange tension between Tom and Professor Vablatsky though she hated to speak up and draw attention, she hated the coldness more. "My father used to tell me that they were so rare that only one seer ever appeared every generation."
"Well, your father was partly right." Professor Dumbledore chimed in, almost relieved at Cordelia's interruptions. "Cassandra is a quite rare person and Hogwarts is lucky to have her."
"Oh please." Professor Vablatsky swatted her hands in front of her face. "I'm more lucky to call Hogwarts my home and teach bright young minds. It's such a pleasure to teach, my gifts would otherwise be wasted on nothingness." Her laughter faded as she swayed back and forth, catching the attention of a few nearby wizards and witches. "You must be Cordelia, Corin's daughter and Cornelius' grand-daughter, ah shame what happened to both of them. Corin was such a bright mind, an eager wizard and one of my favourite students—though don't tell my other students that."
Professor Dumbledore made a sound. "Should I be offended, Professor?" He asked. "I mean I was one of your students once as well."
"Only for a year Albus, just when I was a young Professor, so freshly graduated and just returning to Hogwarts. Ah those were the days." Her foggy eyes turned a pale shade of pink as she smiled into the distance. "I watched Corin grow, it's such a shame what happened."
"I think you might be a little biassed Cassandra. You were friends with Cornelius." Professor Dumbledore said, ignoring the remarks about Cordelia's father in an attempt to lighten the mood.
"Of course I was. He was a brilliant wizard too." Professor Vablatsky barked out. Cordelia flinched at the loudness as Tom covered her ears with a blank yet interested look. Even though he appeared uninterested at the conversation, she could tell that he was focused on Professor Vablatsky's words.
"You knew my grandfather as well?" Cordelia asked. It was rare for anyone to know her grandfather, even her own father didn't know much about him. Cornelius Alder was said to be a brilliant man and a talented wizard—at least that was what she had heard growing up from her own father and mother. Even the portraits on the wall at the Alder manor would sing his praises along with many of her ancestors long dead. "I didn't think anyone knew him." After all, he was said to have died young.
"Well, not many that knew him lived you see." Professor Vablatsky's smile faded as the fog in her eyes darkened like a stormy cloud. "Grindelwald," Professor Dumbledore shifted uncomfortably in his seat. "Took out most of us that knew of Cornelius and my generation of witches and wizards. Brilliant minds and strong wizards and witches alike all wiped out for his plots and schemes." She let out a heavy sigh and slumped down on the table.
Cordelia bit her lips. She didn't know her grandfather was a victim of Grindelwald as well. Knowing it made her sick. "Cornelius disappeared long before Grindelwald even rose to power." Professor Dumbledore quietly reminded his colleague.
Tom shifted in his seat. His dark uninterested eyes widened with something that looked like concern but Cordelia wasn't too sure as she found a cold hand reaching out for her warmth. His grip on her tightened like he was almost afraid of her disappearing. "Disappeared?" Tom blurted out without thinking. "Cordelia's grandfather disappeared."
A dull pain crawled through her skin, paralysing her as she froze momentarily. She felt the pub freeze as well. Almost everyone and everything was so still yet only her and Tom remained static. He stared at her with wide eyes and a mouth agape in silent horror that she had never seen on him before. The pain stopped before she was struck by it once more, this time worse than before as it attacked her heart and her head yet she didn't move.
"My grandfather disappeared." She said out loud to herself, tasting the words as they were unfamiliar to her.
The two professors jolted awake from their quiet mourning as if they had just recalled the two children in their company. Professor Vablatsky let out a nervous laugh as Cordelia stared blankly at her while gnawing the bottom of her lips.
"My grandfather disappeared?" She questioned out loud. No one had ever told her that, not even the gossiping portraits on the walls of the Alder manor.
"Yes, did your father never mention it—ah, you must've been too young to understand." Professor Vablatsky tried to comfort her but her words did nothing to soothe the ache in her head. "It was quite the mystery."
"And tragedy." Professor Dumbledore quietly added. "Cornelius Alder, your grandfather was a very talented Unspeakable; the death of his twin and wife left him inconsolable. I do recall your father was barely in his third year at Hogwarts when it all happened. It was all very sudden, he was here one day and—"
"And gone the next with no trace to be found but his few belongings?" Tom said as if he was in a trance. His pale face grew paler with each word he spoke as a greenish tinge covered his face. He looked like he was going to be sick. "I-is that what happened?" He added, almost trying to save himself.
Professor Dumbledore stared at the boy curiously. "Yes," He nodded. "That's exactly what happened. You're quite inquisitive Tom."
"It was a lucky guess, Professor." Tom made an excuse. Cordelia caught onto his lies and let his hand go; she distanced herself from him. She felt strangely cold all of a sudden as the headache grew worse, almost blinding her.
"But he didn't die." Professor Vablatsky said, interrupting the two. The fog in her eyes had thickened considerably, eclipsing the green pigment in her iris. She sucked in distorted breath as her shoulders slumped. "He took a path that many those that came before had taken." Her head snapped towards Cordelia with a loud crack. "You've been on that path before, not once but many times."
"Are you…talking to me?" Cordelia sat up and leaned closer to the old Professor whose wrinkly face twisted into a distorted grin.
"Who else would I speak to, child?" She rasped out, tapping her nails against the old wooden table. "You," She rasped out. "Have taken this path before—it didn't end well for you or…" Her eyes flickered towards a still Tom. "you." She let out a quiet laugh. "Those blinded by their wants can never see their needs, a serpent coils around the tree, poisoned from the roots and the tree falls into a gate of unknown. The scarred one slays the snake but the tree remains gone. Regret, pride and greed plagues you both." She gasped out, vomiting the words with pained gasps as the fog in her eyes swirled around wildly before her eyes cleared and her head slumped down.
Cordelia turned to Professor Dumbledore who looked shocked while Tom's face was dark. She did notice the quill and parchment in Professor Dumbledore's hands that had appeared out of nowhere with the quill writing by itself, it stopped when Professor Vablatsky had stopped talking. Tom leaned forward, closer to the still form of Professor Vablatsky who was muttering under her breath, too quiet for anyone to hear.
"It'll be different this time." Cordelia heard Tom say under his breath as he sat back just in time for Professor Vablatsky to break free of her trance. She smiled brightly as if nothing had happened and the bells jingled softly as she moved.
"You children should try the toffee pudding." She said as if nothing had happened. "It's very good."
"I will make sure to order that." Professor Dumbledore replied, tucking away the parchment and quill. "Would you like some as well, Professor."
"Oh I'd love that." She smiled and tucked her chair closer to the table. "I never did catch your name." She said all of a sudden, turning to Tom who had almost faded into the background.
Tom gave a polite but charming smile and said his name. "I'm Tom."
"Tom." Professor Vablatsky repeated, studying Tom carefully. "Well, I can see that you have some great things written for you in the stars."
"Cordelia as well?" Tom added; there was a slight desperation in his tone that wasn't missed by Professor Dumbledore.
Professor Vablatsky's eyes fogged up for a second before she said. "Of course, if the stars say so."
But did the stars know what happened to her?
Cordelia paused as the ache in her head returned and her mind went blank. What was she thinking about before? She couldn't recall. She tried hard to remember what she was thinking about but nothing came to her mind at all. It was like everything had been scrubbed clean. She stared off into the distance as her concerns for her empty thoughts mixed with Professor Vablatsky's prophetic words.
A serpent and a tree.
She didn't know what it meant but just thinking about it all made her head hurt. She slumped her head down onto the table and waited for their meal while watching Tom read a book he had bought. Serpent and a tree. Tom liked snakes.