true loves poison • james potter

77

Lorelei, Pandora, and Xenophilius finished Regulus's book in late May. After which they kept researching whatever they could find relating to horcruxes.

Her world once again fell into a routine, making the weeks slip away. James was preoccupied with an arson investigation, apparently a Death Eaters work, so Lorelei found herself with an abundance of time she spent researching class XXXXX Creatures. She was convinced somehow a creature as strong as a Nundu or Chimaera could defeat a horcrux if only they could figure out how to harness it.

So as the weeks slipped by until June was nearly at its end, Lorelei finally took an evening away from reading about vicious creatures. Instead, she decided to clean her bedroom. Specifically, she began unloading her trunk from school.

After nearly a year of procrastination, she finally cracked open her trunk to go through and put away her old school supplies.

Most of it was rubbish. Even the books that were salvageable weren't useful to her current life, and the doodles and broken quills went promptly into the bin.

But as she finished clearing off the top layer of rubbish, she noticed a wooden box in the corner. Having no memory of it, she immediately took off the lid to reveal a globe.

After lifting the globe, she leaned back on her heels and looked into the milky white surface of the globe. After a moment, as if sprouting from her fingertips, spots of purple spread into the globe creating a purple haze inside the globe.

And once the globe was fully purple, she remembered purchasing the globe.

Just as it did the day in the store, the lavender swirl contained in the globe captivated her. Hypnotic with the way is swirled, Lorelei felt like if she held it at a certain angle she could see something moving in the center, something other then the fog.

Holding it up to the light pouring through the window, Lorelei tried to see through the rapid swirls if the purple fog. Holding it so close to her face it nearly touched her nose, she tilted it sideways, "Come on," she whispered.

A distant door slammed shut, startling Lorelei from her reverie. Unfortunately, her grip on the glass globe was too loose and it slipped out of her fingers when she jumped.

Crashing on the floor, Lorelei didn't even have a moment to regret the loss before the fog escaped and filled her room. Swirling rapidly as it had in the globe, Lorelei felt the fog whip her hair causing her surroundings to swirl with the chaos. Blinded by the lavender haze, she barely notices the whooshing noises - almost whispers - that began flying past her.

Once she did notice the voices, however, they were impossible to ignore. Stilted conversations and words swirled around her, each as incomprehensible as the next until she turned and saw what looked like an image.

Turning again, she saw another image that moved to be more like a video. She couldn't discern what was happening in the images before they faded, swept away by the swirling purple fog.

The longer the fog swirled, the clearer the images and voices became. The first discernible one being Pandora and Xenophilius kissing at what appeared to be their wedding. The second, Lorelei herself vomiting into the toilet. The third, Dumbledore at a pub with a woman Lorelei had never seen. The fourth was Lorelei staring at herself in a mirror, her belly swollen as if she were pregnant. The fifth was Lorelei and James yelling at each other as though they were fighting.

After the visions became almost indiscernible again, Lorelei catching only glimpses such as herself crying and then of her laying on the floor, one of Sirius laughing with James, of Lily holding a baby, and one of Lorelei pounding on a door.

And then the fog dissipated, leaving behind the wreckage of her room and the turmoil in her head.

She stood silently for an entire minute without moving.

Having at least a hundred questions and no answers, she did the only thing she could.

She went to Hogsmeade Village.

<>

After a minute of searching, when refound the Knick Knack Shack she had bought the globe from.

Just like the first time she'd arrived at the store, there was an abundance of clutter piled around the store with only one path cutting through.

Not giving the clutter a second glance, she pressed forward, "Hello?" She called out, hoping the same woman would be in the store.

"Hello." The storekeeper said calmly from her left.

To Lorelei's credit, she only jumped a little as she turned to meet the woman's knowing smile, "I'm not sure if you'll remember me, but I was in here last year and I bought a globe."

"Let me guess," The woman straightened up, tugging her black apron back into place, "It broke."

"Yes." Lorelei replied, a little desperately, "And when it did the fog from inside the globe swirled around my bedroom and began showing me," she hesitated, "visions of some sort."

The woman's expression didn't change. "I was wondering how long it would take. Usually when a Noisiv Globe chooses a buyer they react quickly."

"A what?" Lorelei asked.

Waving one hand through the air dismissively, the woman used the other to tuck a loose blonde curl behind her ear, "Noisiv Globe. It's an object that shows certain people visions when broken."

Tilting her head, Lorelei reassessed the woman, "Why didn't you tell me it would show me visions?"

Shrugging, the woman turned and straightened a cat calendar on a nearby shelf, "If I told you you would have gone home and smashed the globe immediately, which would have interrupted the process of how the globe works. The globe is the one in charge of how and when it breaks."

"So when I broke the globe it was fate?" Lorelei clarified.

Nodding, the woman turned and walked away.

"Wait!" Lorelei called, following the woman, "What do they mean? The visions."

Sighing, the woman turned back around, "I'm not an oracle, I don't decipher visions for a living."

"Well how am I supposed to figure out what they mean then?"

Turning back around the woman spoke low, "I suggest you write whatever you saw down and then think about it for a while. If the Noisiv Globe showed you something, it was probably for a reason."