A little hope in the darkest times

Anything, no matter what

Nagini
Nagini listened. She had always liked listening better than talking. She listened to the forrest and its stories. Of monsters and humans, of heaven and of hell... Of course she would have never thought that anyone was answering her desperate thoughts. She had thought of Credence and that he had not seemed happy at all, that there had to be a way to get him back. Nagini had never had the desire to look into the future, she already knew how she would die. She already knew that she would turn into a snake and that most of her life would be a tragedy. At least she had. Until the moment she had allowed herself to dream. Of course, she knew that people like her did not find true love, those things just happened in fairy tales and books.

She had known from the moment she had turned the first time, that her life would not be ordinary, and she had also known that she would never have a happy ending. Hope was such a dangerous thing to have, indeed. It had poisoned her heart and mind, took her sleep away and planted fantasies. And now that she was sitting in the forbidden forrest, in the middle of the night, she realized that she actually wanted to know the future.

The stars upon her probably thought that her life was terrible enough already and made her wish come true, or they just had a cruel sense of humor.

A pack of centaurs appeared a few seconds later, as if she had called them.
„Young Lady, you want to see into the future?", a centaur standing in the front row asked, apparently their leader.
Shyly, Nagini nodded.
„We can arrange that. You are indeed just as half human as we are, so because of our similarities, we will respect you. But we will not help you for nothing. My name is Bane, and I am the leader of this pack, I am speaking for all of them when I say: We differ from the humans servants, we are not house elves and that is why we expect you to give us something in return.", the centaur said.
Nagini nodded, she did not dare to raise her voice. These creatures were definitely wiser than she could ever be and sometimes it was better to say nothing at all than something you would regret later.
She took a deep breath and tried to order her thoughts.
„What do you expect me to pay?"
„What are you willing to pay to find out what happens to your lover, Aurelius?"

Nagini had no doubt that the Centaurs were capable of seeing into the future, they knew about Credence. But who was Aurelius?

„What are you willing to pay?",  Bane repeated.
Nagini was trembling, but she already knew her answer. She loved Credence more than her own life, wanted him at her side more than anything she had ever wanted. Yes, knowledge was power. And for power, you had to pay.

„I'll give you anything, no matter what it is", she said, her voice was almost cracking, but she hadn't ever been surer of something. This was the right thing, wasn't it? Love was worth anything, no matter what.

Bane raised his eyebrows.
„What a noble and courageous answer from a human.", he turned to his fellow centaurs, and they all began to murmur, until they made a final decision.

„Know this: We are not taking anything from you. But there is knowledge in the universe which is supposed to be hidden from your kind. And knowing too much can be a burden. You don't owe anything to us, you owe it to the universe. There will be a point when you will have to pay for all of this. And the Prize will be high. Are you sure you still want us to tell you about your future?", Bane asked and Nagini saw that his eyes were trying to warn her. That she should say no, that the only reasonable answer was no. But Nagini had grown up knowing that her life was worth nothing, that she would lose everything no matter what. She had gotten used to risking everything. And for such a long time, she had forbidden herself to ever hope because she knew that she would never be happy.

This was it. Her only chance.
„One question: Will I be happy? Even if it is just for a moment, a second, will I be happy? Is it worth all of this? Is it? Will I be happy?", she asked and the despair in her voice came through.

The centaurs were looking at her, sadly. Pitying her. They had carried knowledge for so long, they had seen lives end many times before. And they were pitying her because they knew how it end and that it would not be a happy end.
But Nagini had never wanted to have a happy ending. Because endings and goodbyes were always sad, tragic to her. But what she wanted was a happy middle, something to comfort her, memories she could keep in her heart, even if her body was not human anymore. 

Bane discussed the matter with the others, in a language humans would never understand.
For a long time, they were not even looking at Nagini. She couldn't sit still, constantly moving her fingers and legs. If they were not ready to tell her, then she would never know what would have happen. She would not know if it was worth trying all of this. Because she had been born as half a snake,  she had a plan, she always had.

Nagini was one of these people that were told they were stupid until they believed it. She had been told that she was worthless and all of this had made her scared, even though she had been born with a deep courage inside her. Normally, she did the things that felt right for her, that aligned with her morals. Normally, she listened to her head but this time she let her heart speak. All of this were the centaurs seeing. And they were also seeing that she had desperately tried to find happiness in her life that was destined to end tragically.
They were pitying her and pity often leads to kindness.

„There will be a Point, when you will be happy. And we decided we will help you", Bane declared and stepped forward.
„Thank you, endlessly.", Nagini whispered.
„Don't thank me, thank the stars and the universe", he said.
He lowered his head, as if he wanted to bow down in front of her.

Nagini placed her hand on the white spot on his forehead and closed her eyes. The centaur whispered into her ear, knowledge that had long been forgotten. She did not need to look up to see the stars, to find out the truth. He shared the knowledge with her and she kept it in her heart. It was a burden, they were right, but it was also a gift.

And as she opened her eyes, Bane and the other centaurs were gone and she was smiling.

She would be happy, at least for a short time.