Lockwood Part 4

I was nervous. It was justified. Tenzin, Wangchuk and Pema walked me into the room with the pensieve, I’d never had three Oracles in here with me and according to Tenzin, I was only just strong enough to contain them. We had trained for two weeks, learning how I could help them from within, focus on what was in front of me, push past anything that was restricting my movement and get what I needed. This was my soul, I would command it.

I took a deep breath and the Oracles readied themselves as I stepped into the last memory.

I could smell copper, something metallic, I could feel soft soil beneath me and a ringing in my ears sounded louder than ever, it was disorientating. I tried to stand, but my balance was well off. I needed to focus, remember the pond, find my balance and try to see what was in front of me. The ground wasn’t just soft, it was wet, like mud, but it smelt metallic. Blood.

It was a battlefield, a war. I looked up to see soldiers, wizards, muggles, children, women, animals, all of them being slaughtered by a single man. Romulus.

‘You chose her over us!’ He roared, I could have sworn he was looking directly at me, but soon Remus passed through my body and I realised I was standing in the exact place that Remus had been hit.

There was still fighting happening around me, but Remus was dragging his bloodied body towards his brother. There was a madness in both of their eyes that I had only caught glimpses of before. They were there to kill.

‘I chose love, same as you!’ Remus panted, he fell a little as he continued towards Romulus. It suddenly occurred to me that the brothers were the only ones fighting who didn’t wear any kind of armour. ‘I chose life!’

‘And what of the life we have been trying to save for the last twenty years? What of your mother? What of your brother?’ Romulus growled and sprinted towards Remus, hitting him hard with his fists and pouring all of his rage into his brother’s face.

I suddenly felt that presence again, the one that was neither warm nor cold, just heavy. It took more than I had wanted to give, but the second I turned around I saw the same wolf I had seen in the village. Big and black, eyes sharp and bright blue, only this time it wasn’t a statue, it was her, the she-wolf.

It was like she had scars all over her body, the same symbols covered the statue in the middle of the village. Her eyes peered into mine and I wondered if she really could see me standing in front of her. It was impossible, I wasn’t really there, this was a replay of events that had already happened.

She was watching the battle from the other side of the field, but she was huge, probably bigger than my own animagus. Her teeth showed as she began speeding up towards where the brothers were fighting.

Remus had somehow gotten the upper hand and pinned Romulus to the floor, I felt my heart sink as he looked up and saw his mother sprinting towards him. Remus dodged just in time, grabbed a spear from a nearby body and prepared to fend off his brother again.

The she wolf had carried on sprinting and it suddenly caught Remus’s attention. Without a second thought, he kicked Romulus back to the ground and jammed the spear hard into his leg. Romulus wailed out in pain, the sound was deafening, but Remus just ran after his mother.

I was suddenly outside a house, the she wolf was stalking it, trying to figure out the best way inside. I could feel my legs aching, like I had been the one running after her. I could barely breathe properly and I could hear my heart pounding in my ears.

‘Stop!’ Remus shouted, but before he could make it to the door, the wolf knocked him back. I could feel blood trickling down my throat, my head was dizzying, but Remus kept getting up. ‘Don’t hurt her!’ He yelled again.

‘She is the reason we have failed.’ The voice definitely came from the wolf, but it was like she was speaking directly into my mind, like she was a Legilimens.

Remus covered his ears, but it did no good. The noise was inside his head, no amount of shielding was going to stop it.

‘I will not let you kill her!’ Remus roared, suddenly finding his strength and throwing his arm out to send his mother back through a broken building on the other side of the square. Remus ran into the house to find Dora, heavily pregnant, on the floor, just regaining consciousness. ‘Dora.’ He cried. ‘Dora, please wake up.’

She began struggling against Remus, as if he were an intruder. ‘No! Don’t touch me!’

‘Dora, it’s me, it’s me.’ Remus calmed her down. His face was covered in blood and I had the distinct impression that time was running vey thin. ‘Come with me, I will keep you safe, as I always have.’

Remus helped Dora to her feet, he was sore and tired, but nothing was going to stop him taking her to safety.

‘Remus, Remus, please.’ Dora held her belly, trying to find her feet.

‘We cannot stop Dora, I have to get you to the cave. You’ll be safe there.’ The hill cave. How many times had I dreamt of Remus yelling for me to run to the cave, run to safety? And how many times had I forgotten the dream? But it always lingered in the back of my mind, like déjà vu.

‘Romulus did something.’ She said, still crying. Remus stopped and checked her.

‘What? What did he do?’ He demanded.

Dora hesitated for a moment, before lifting her tunic to show him her belly. It was covered in small symbols, Remus stood back horrified. ‘He brought a man with him and did this to me.’

‘Dora, it’s very important that you tell me exactly what he did.’ I could feel his anger, I could feel his rage pulsing through his bones, giving him a new energy that he had not yet accessed. ‘Tell me he didn’t kill the man that came with him.’

‘He did.’ She cried and fell to her knees, too weak to continue. Remus just watched her and I could feel his anger beginning to blind him.

‘Dora, I will kill him for this, but before I do, you must trust me.’ Remus pulled his knife from his thigh strap and got onto his knees. ‘Trust me, Dora.’

‘What are you doing?’ She was suddenly terrified and went to back away from him. Remus carved a symbol into his hand.

‘This will protect him.’ Remus said. ‘Romulus will never hurt you while I am still here. I am giving you all the protection I have. This is a gift, this is my strength.’

I had a bad feeling about it, whatever Remus had carved into his hand was not a protection spell, I’d seen enough of them to be sure, but Dora clearly hadn’t. She nodded and allowed Remus to place his hand onto her protruding belly, he began muttering something inaudible.

The presence was back, the she wolf was coming.

Remus stood and helped Dora to her feet, he suddenly looked older, like he had been drained of all energy. That may well have been what happened, if that was what he had to do to protect his family, then it was a real possibility that Remus had done exactly that without any hesitation.

Dora stood up and somehow her own energy had returned to her. ‘Remus, what did you do?’

Remus panted and I could feel myself losing my focus, I needed to concentrate on what I was seeing. ‘I gave him the best part of me, I gave him my strength, he will be protected for the rest of his life. You, Dora, you will never be found.’ Remus sat back on his heels and it was clear that he was now dying. ‘Leave this place, go somewhere safe, never come back.’ Remus finally fell back and Dora was immediately at his side, trying to work out what to do. ‘I’m so sorry.’

‘For what?’ Dora choked.

‘For falling in love with you,’ Remus looked up into the eyes of the woman he loved more than life itself. ‘I should never have asked your name, I should have left you at the market, selling your baskets.’ Remus could taste the salt and copper mixture.

‘No, don’t you dare apologise for that!’ Dora was defiant until the last second. ‘Never apologise for giving me the greatest gift, never apologise for loving me. I will protect our son with my life, I promise… I love you Remus, I will never love anyone the way I love you.’ Dora leaned in and kissed her husband, the presence was getting thicker and thicker with each second that passed. ‘I will always protect our family,’ She whispered against his lips. ‘With everything I have.’

Remus swallowed and took one last look at his wife. ‘Run. Never stop.’ Remus said and kissed Dora one last time, before she began sprinting for the cave.

Remus just looked up at the sky for a moment and I could feel his thoughts, he knew he was about to die, but with everything he had, he stood up. In the middle of a battlefield, his wife running for her life, the knowledge that he would never know his son, he would never really be a father, his plans to teach his son how to fish, how to build things, to fight, would never come to pass. His son would grow without him. Remus prayed that Dora would tell him stories of his father, prayed that he grew up wondering what it could have been like.

Remus slowly got back to his feet, he was going to die, he was going to be in more pain than he had ever felt in his life, but time was everything, if he could give Dora enough time to get to the cave she could escape.

I could see Romulus running with all the effort he could muster towards his brother, spear in hand. Their mother wasn’t far behind and both of them moved with a rage that Remus had felt only moments previous, now all he could feel was an aching in his heart.

The wolf was the first to him, grabbing his whole body in her mouth and tossing him high into the air, Remus wailed as he landed back on the floor, his body now failing him significantly. I tried so hard to focus on what was going on in Remus’s head, the small flashes of his life now entering into his consciousness. It was now clear what had happened to their mother, the pieces were all there and all I needed to do was put them together.

Romulus threw the spear at Remus and it caught his stomach, piercing his skin and suddenly everything stopped. The entire field cleared, there was nothing but the brothers staring at each other as they knew death was coming for them. They were barely thirty, barely starting their lives and it was already over.

‘Romulus.’ Remus panted, he dropped to his knees and slowly pulled the spear out from his stomach. The pain was searing and I could see his hands shaking.

‘We made a promise,’ Romulus limped towards Remus. ‘We promised to save her. Family is everything.’ He screamed.

‘Not at the cost of others.’

‘At all costs!’ Romulus roared, but it was suddenly clear that he was attempting to hide worse injuries, potentially the ones that would eventually kill him.

A blurred black figure shot behind Remus, she was going after Dora. Remus looked up at his brother, knowing that he needed to do something to stop her.

‘I’m so sorry Romulus, but we both know that she would do anything to see her children live forever. I can't let her go after my son.’ Remus, as quickly as he could, turned the spear and caught the side of his brother’s neck. Romulus began choking, trying to seal his wound with his hand and gulp down any form of oxygen he could. ‘We should never have revived her, we should have been stronger and not given into her desires.’ Remus fell back again, staring up at the sky, listening to the sounds of his brother dying and the harsh whispering of his mother sprinting back to her sons. ‘I’m so sorry I couldn’t be the son you wanted… and I’m sorry that Romulus could.’ Remus was struggling to breathe, this was it, this was the end. ‘But you will never find the Lockwoods for as long as they live… and if you do… then you will die… and finally we will know peace.’ Remus watched as the image of his mother staring down and howling with pain began to blur, the world grew smaller and his body heavier, until… there was nothing.

I woke to the sounds of crying, a deep and painful sobbing. I opened my eyes and the crying grew quieter, I was back in my room the sounds of the village replacing the sobbing.
My body flared with aches and pains, but somehow my mind was clearer, like something had clicked into place and everything was brighter now.

Darren felt a burst of energy, his broom suddenly picked up speed and he darted for the goal. He could feel his body suddenly coming back to him, the strength he once had to finish a game, but not only finish, excel. He was back, he was always the star man and no one would have a single doubt about how well he could play, now it was time to prove it.

Angie,

Hope you’re good, Clara and I are going to wait for you to come home before we start planning the wedding, you have to be here for it.

Had the first good game in a long time, felt great getting back into form and hopefully this means I’ll be back in the running for the next World Cup. Straight to the final! Quidditch is coming home!

Anyway, no real news, mum is still tired, I think it’s just getting to be a bit much for her at work, dad’s doing his bit and we’re thinking of getting a new cat. Since Percy died things haven’t been quite the same. We’ll see. Clara isn’t too keen on the idea, but then, you know, werewolf.

Looking forward to whenever you come home.

Darren