บท 276: The Cycle of Life and Death

The scene shifted once again; the girl was now standing at the edge of a lake next to a man wearing a coat of mail. He held a helmet under his left arm, and in his right hand, he held a golden sword. He cocked his arm back, as if to throw the sword, but he faltered; instead of throwing it, he drew his own sword from his scabbard, and threw it in the lake instead. He then carefully hid the golden sword in a tree hollow, before leaving over a hill.

The girl curiously inspected the sword that had been left inside the tree. It was a veritable work of art, a beautifully wrought ornate longsword. She then heard footsteps; the man was coming back. But instead of retrieving the sword he had just hidden, he threw his scabbard into the lake, before retracing his steps back up the hill.

Just like the woman named Vee, it didn't appear as if the man dressed like a knight could see her, unlike the man named Merlin. How very curious, the girl thought to herself.

Shortly afterwards, the knight reappeared; this time, however, he finally took the golden sword from the tree hollow and threw it into the lake. But the instant before it touched the lake's surface, a hand surged out from the water and grabbed the sword by the hilt. Once, twice, thrice, the hand brandished the golden sword in the air, before retreating back beneath the lake's surface, sword and all. The man left.

"Arturus…" a voice quietly sobbed, though the girl could not tell from where the voice originated.

The world shifted again; she was still in a forest, though the lake from before was nowhere to be seen. Vee was there too, and from her reddened eyes, it appeared as though she had been crying nonstop. …And it looked like she was talking to a tree.

"I'm sorry, Merlin," she wept, banging her delicate fists on the rough bark of a yew tree. "I'll find a way to get you out of there, I swear I will. Just wait for me, and I'll make everything right."

"Good riddance, I'd say," a female voice said snidely. "Well done, Sister; it was impossible to do anything with him around."

While Vee had been lamenting and crying her eyes out, a second woman had arrived. The girl turned around to see who had just spoken, and Vee did the same.

"Anna," she said, a hint of quiet fury burning in her voice. "What have you done?

"Whatever do you mean?" Anna said sweetly.

"Arthur!" Vee said hotly. "He's dead; killed by your son's hand! Tell me, is this your doing!?"

Anna laughed loudly, causing Vee to draw her wand in anger and point it straight at her sister's heart.

"Of course not," Anna said, pushing the tip of Vee's wand away from her. "It must have been an accident; I heard dear old Arthur misplaced the magical scabbard you gave him— what an unfortunate series of coincidences; it would certainly have healed his wounds, had he not lost it."

Anna then drew her own wand and pointed it at Vee, who looked at it warily. Despite having the appearance of an ordinary wand, it made the girl's skin crawl just by looking at it.

"How could you fail to stop your own child from going this far?" Vee insisted. "He never listened to Arthur, his uncle and father; but he never disobeyed—"

Vee's voice trailed off and her eyes widened in shock, as she spotted a very familiar-looking scabbard at her sister's hip.

"You— you can lie!?" she gasped, raising her wand again, but by then it was too late.

"How very astute of you, Sister," Anna sniggered, and half an instant later, her expression turned murderous. "AVADA KEDAVRA!"

The girl shielded her eyes from the blinding green light, but by the time her eyesight was restored to her, the scene had ended, and she had already returned to the maze of hedges under the night sky, to the crossroads right in front of the little girl playing with her puzzle pieces.

"Just a few more pieces," the little girl happily said.

The girl glanced at the nearly completed puzzle; it depicted a painting of a castle overlooking the black waters of a deep lake, with a starry sky in the background. There were only a few missing pieces in its centre. It wouldn't be long until it was complete, now.

A final pathway lay before her.

The scene shifted before the girl's eyes again; it now looked as if she was in some sort of hospital. There was a heavily pregnant woman lying in bed, and at her bedside stood a woman dressed in Healer's robes and a worried-looking young man.

"You can do it, Iris!" the man encouraged her. "You're almost there!"

"Push!" the Healer said. "Breathe in, breathe in, breathe out!"

Suddenly, the woman screamed, and soon after, the loud wails of a baby filled the room; she evidently had just given birth. The girl watched as the Healer collected the newborns and swaddled them in cloth, before handing them to the mother.

"Congratulations, Madam Greengrass!" the Healer said emotionally, holding up the newborns. "A second, healthy baby girl! Twins! You must be so proud; have you thought of their names yet?"

The woman named Iris Greengrass smiled tiredly as she accepted the babies; but the instant she saw her children, her smile froze on her lips.

"That's not my child!" she cried, and she raised one of her babies above her head, as if to dash its fragile body against the floor.

"Dear?" the man said in bewilderment. "What are you—"

"NO!" the Healer yelled. "Relashio!"

She then promptly dropped her wand and snatched the babies away from their mother before they both fell on the ground. The twins started bawling even louder.

"Stupe—" the man began, drawing his wand and pointing it at his wife.

"NO STUNNERS!" the Healer cried. "She's just given birth; you might kill her!"

The scene shifted again; Iris Greengrass was now sleeping peacefully in her bed, while the Healer and the man talked at the foot of her bed. The man was gently rocking the babies to sleep in his arms.

"The Muggles call it postpartum psychosis, Mr. Greengrass," the Healer said tiredly. "These are dangerous, stressful times; and it happens more often to young women who give birth for the first time; especially in the case of twins. Even we Wizards still know precious little about childbirth…"

"But is my wife going to be okay?" the man asked worriedly. "She's not going to try and kill our children again, is she?"

"She'll be okay. But we'll need to call the Obliviator Squad to rework her recent memories," the Healer said grimly. "And I hope you know how to cast Cheering Charms…"