The Goddess of Death

~ oOo ~

Chapter Three: Dreams

Calla

She was running, her footsteps hit the ground thumping beneath her. The sound of her breathing was abnormally loud; it was the loudest of everything around her. Probably because she was homing onto the scene in front of her, where she wanted to be - where she needed to be - and she had to get there quickly without any distractions.

Tears ran down her face as she watched the lightshow that wasn't a celebration but a battle of survival. Her throat felt closed and her heart heavy with the knowledge of what was going to happen.

She frowned at the fighting duo that suddenly came in front of her. She didn't need this; she had to get to him quickly because he was all she had left. "Furunculus!" she snarled as boils burst out along the uncovered arms of the death eater making him howl with pain and move out of the way in shock.

"Incendio!" She flung the spell towards another fighting trio of wizards, she aimed for the ones dressed in black robes and fire burned them, freeing the wizard who appeared to be a couple of years to her junior.

She watched as someone on a broom flew over everyone's heads, casting spells into the chaos. Fallen bodies lay discarded on the ground, their glassy eyes staring upwards unseeingly.

"Lumos Maximus!" She shouted at the people ahead of her, a bright light blinded everyone for a minute. But she raced passed without a backwards glance to see the distraction she'd caused.

"REDUCTO!" Someone shouted and the shop wall behind her exploded causing screams to ring out, but she didn't want to stop. He needed her.

What looked to be a small family who'd at one point been enjoying a day out stood cowered surrounded by two death eaters. "Protego!" A shield sprung up in front of the children and adults, before a purple spell hit them, the relief in their eyes was clearly visible as they turned towards their savior. "FIGHT BACK!" She screamed at them, in utter bewilderment at why they weren't using their wands and knowledge of spells to their advantage.

She rolled her eyes at their combined shocked faces. "Glacius!" The two death eaters froze as the freezing spell hit them, ice creeping along from where the spell hit. "Carpe Retractum!" A rope tied them up for good measure in case they managed to be defrosted anytime soon.

She shook her head and left the family behind; hopefully they would take her advice or try to leave.

"Crucio!" A scream rang out from someone in front of her, a large man stood over an old woman as she shrieked in pain. She was curled in a ball as he laughed down at her.

"Diffindo!" She sliced her arm through the air throwing the spell towards the man who was torturing the old woman. It hit his side and immediately he stopped laughing to look down at his bleeding torso in confusion. He looked up and his eyes found her before he kneeled over.

"Stupefy!" She heard someone call from behind her, she dodged by swerving slightly to the side, and saw at the edge of her sight as it hit another death eater instead.

"Melofors!" She cried out as she noticed a familiar duo of twins. Their attacker spun round and was hit with the spell head on, her head shaking until it shook then was suddenly encased with an overlarge pumpkin. Muffled shrieks came from the covered head as the woman stumbled around and tried to take it off with her hands.

"Locomotor Mortis!" Both twins shouted simultaneously, hitting the stumbling death eater and making them fall down with the force of the two leg-locker curses combined.

"Saponum!" She could now hear him in front of her, she watched as his opponent got distracted by the soapy bubbles coming out of his month. His wand arm circled around until it pointed at the death eater again. "Immobulus!" The chocking wizard suddenly froze and collapsed onto the ground.

"CONCIDO!" She shouted slicing through the flesh and bone of the man about to attack him from behind after he'd seen his fallen comrade. He screamed as his forearm was cut of and hit the ground.

"Dirumpor!" Someone shouted from in front of them. A massive explosion pushed them all back as one of the shops exploded outwards

"Remus!" She shouted desperately through the mist of fallen rubble. "Remus!"

"Cal?" A voice coughed out. "Callie what are you doing here?"

"Saving your sorry arse!" She smiled in relief after hearing his voice. She ran a hand through her short-cropped hair, weirdly remembering seeing the memory of her father doing the exact same thing.

"You Potters', going to be the death of me, you know." He laughed, but his voice was soft as if hurt. She frowned as she stepped over glass and wood searching ahead of her until she found a figure sitting on the ground; he was hunched over a small body.

"Remus?" She gasped out, rushing ahead now that she could see more. "Are you alright? Who's this?"

"A first year by the look of him. There we're a couple in the bookshop I was at when this started. I told them to run to the back exist with Colin Creevey, but this one appears to have stayed behind."

"Are you hurt though?" She crouched down, looking at the light brown-haired man that was a beloved uncle to her, his hair was covered in dust and his faced streaked with dirt, there was some blood on his robes. But all she could look at were the pale green eyes that smiled at her.

"I think I've got some glass in my leg, but the adrenaline is taking away the pain at the moment." He winced, their eyes both flickering to his left leg.

"And the boy?" She asked, her hand gripping her short staff more tightly as she took her eyes away from them and glanced about them aware that they weren't the only ones caught in the blast.

"Good, just knocked unconscious by the fall. I shielded him from the debris." Remus ran a hand over the young boy's head searching for a lump.

"Small mercies." She mumbled her eyes wondering around her waiting for someone to attack them. The smoke was starting to fade away and the sense of dread returned to her. Something was about to happen, something terrible.

"Avada Kedavra!" The green spell lit up the smoke around them; she quickly tugged at Remus' arm and brought them both down. The jet of green light missed them by inches.

She whirled around, crouching over the two protectively. Her eyes widened to see the unmasked face of Antonin Dolohov. His dark eyes glinted gleefully when he noticed them. He stepped out of the smoke dramatically, his dark short cut curls were covered with sot and blood dribbled down his forehead.

"AVIS!" Birds burst out of her staff as she shouted the spell. "OPPUGNO!" They drove towards the Dolohov as she pointed her staff at him. There was barely a moment for him to comprehend what had happened before he was attacked by the birds. They pecked at him in a swarm, causing him to flinch away from them as he tried to push them away with his hands so he could free his wand enough to point at them.

"Auguamenti!" A jet of water shot out and pushed Dolohov onto the floor with great force, she glanced behind her to see Remus on his feet again. He'd moved the young boy into a doorway so he was out of the way.

When she looked back she saw that Remus had conjured ropes to wrap Dolohov up, but judging by the blood pouring onto the stone path it wasn't needed. A high giggling laugh sounded around them and the sound of skipping heels sounded on the stone path. Suddenly the noise stopped and her surrounding misted up.

She tensed as her forehead pounded with pain. She gritted her teeth knowing who had arrived now, the only one who could cause the cursed scar to flare with pain.

"Potter!" The smoke faded away leaving him exposed to them. People were still fighting furiously, screams rang in the air. She saw a couple of bodies lying down on the stone road of the small village unlikely to get up again.

"Bastard." She spat, as she squeezed the longer staff in her hand, feeling her magic run through it. She stared at the monster that had killed so many people including her parents. The one who overheard the prophecy that had started this whole mess. She looked quickly around seeing no one near them.

"Sectumsempra!"

The white light shot at her, she dodged but wasn't fast enough to escape the second jet of light. Blinding white light surrounded her along with a white noise. Terror ran through her as she heard Remus scream behind her.

She gasped awake, her breaths becoming pants as she struggled for a minute to control her breathing as she stared into the darkness. Her curtains fluttered in the summer breeze, the early morning sunrise visible from one of her windows. Lying back down on her mattress she looked up at the ceiling trying to center herself back into the present.

Calla rolled over and curled into a ball. She desperately wanted to close her eyes to the world but nightmares plagued her sleep. It was a never-ending pattern.

She didn't want to dread sleeping. She didn't want to see her friends and family dying behind her closed eyelids.

She sighed heavily, her eyes locked onto the table beside her bedside that had a photo of the marauders and her mother happily laughing on the grounds of Hogwarts.

A chill ran through her as she realized that they had been her age, the age they died. She was going to live past the age they had not.

Why was her whole life filled with death? Were Teddy and Dora still in danger because of her? What about her remaining friends that were alive? Should she leave England so they would be safe?

What could she do?

Was she destined to be alone?

She blinked back to her room and realized that she had been crying. She wiped away the tear tracks running down her cheeks.

She had to get out of bed. Her promise to Padma rang in her ears. She didn't want to bring trouble to her remaining family. Especially Teddy, she didn't want his first years filled with sadness. She would do just about anything for that boy, just so he wouldn't get the lonely sad childhood that she'd lived through.

"Ugh…" she moaned as she tried to get out of the covers that she had tangled herself into that night. She gave up and lay back down, her gaze drifting to the ceiling her mind going into a state of fogginess.

Waking up had never felt so confusing. The onslaught of so many emotions that she now had to deal with in this world that relied upon her so much. Was she to get up and face it or wallow in her bed alone until the emotions drowned her? She knew what she was meant to do, but was she brave enough?

The story of her life was over, she'd completed what was expected of her and now she had a freedom of a future that she'd never planned for. What was she to do now? The driving force of her life was gone, but was everything else? She closed her eyes and turned onto her side away from the light coming through the curtains, and away from the outside world. Perhaps she should be grateful that she got some sleep at least for the first part of the night, before she got plagued by nightmares again. But that first dream had felt so real, like the ones she'd had back in fifth year with Voldemort. Life just kept throwing stuff at her as if it was testing to see when she would break. Well she wouldn't, she was going to face whatever was thrown at her next. Even if that meant she had to get up and face the day. Sighing she sat up again in time to hear a knock on her door.

This time it was easier to extract her-self from the center of her bed covers. Her oversized Quidditch jersey rode up her thighs as she swung her legs over the edge of the bed. She paused for a moment as she heard Dora's footsteps walk away from her door and down the hall. Perhaps she thought Calla wasn't ready for the day too. She shook the thought away telling her-self to stop overanalyzing everything.

Once she got out she walked silently to the window to open the curtains. It had been a habit of hers to walk as silently as she could from the Dursley's so she wouldn't draw attention to herself or when they'd given her no meals and she'd crept out of her cupboard for food or the bathroom.

She looked out on the grounds of the house that was bathed in the mid-day light. A smile tugged at her lips as she spotted Lottie working in the greenhouse that was detached from the house but not placed too far away from the building.

Turning away she grabbed her dressing robe from where she'd left it hung over the chair in front of her dresser. Breakfast after all meant she could be excused from not having the energy to dress her-self yet. Even if the official hour of breakfast had passed and it would be more like a late lunch.

She slipped her feet into her slippers and made her way to her door. Only pausing for a moment to gather herself she opened and stepped into the hallway.

~ oOo ~

She yawned as she entered the dining room, her arms stretched upwards in an effort to get rid of her stiffness. Her gaze quickly took in the sight before her realizing she wasn't the only one having a late breakfast.

"Morning Cal." Dora called out as she attempted to spoon feed Teddy. "Hogwarts Express incoming!" Dora danced the spoon in her son's vision in an effort to get his attention.

"Choo! Choo!" She joined in as she sat down opposite Dora and on the other side of Teddy's high chair at the foot of the table. Their efforts were rewarded when he opened his mouth willingly and swallowed the food.

"And Hufflepuff scores!" Dora cheered, she laughed at her antics and looked at the breakfast spread sitting on the table. Mmm… waffles and bacon with syrup, the one breakfast meal Dora could make really well. She smacked her lips together and helped herself as Dora continued to cheer in victory.

"He's going to be a Hufflepuff for sure." She smiled at the familiar scene. They had painted Teddy's room yellow at Dora's insistence that it was a good colour for infants, she and Remus hadn't had it in them to argue with the pregnant mother to be.

"Loyalty and hardworking are very good traits!" Dora shook her head as her hand reached out to wipe away a bit of the food that escaped Teddy's mouth.

"Couldn't agree more." She drizzled the syrup over her bacon and waffles before cutting into them and taking a bite. "You've really outdone yourself!" She moaned as she finished her mouthful.

"I know right! I had to physically stop myself from eating more so I could feed Teddy." Dora giggled wiping her fingers on a napkin. Dora looked up at her in amusement but as soon as she laid eyes on her Dora's face slackened and she blinked repeatedly, her hair turning white in shock.

"What?" She frowned seeing the dumbstruck look. She glanced down at herself to see if she'd somehow come down naked, but she was met with her familiar pajamas. Nothing unusual to see.

"I didn't think growth spurts could happen overnight." Dora's mouth was still open in shock.

"I've grown?" She glanced down at herself skeptically. She'd always been short, the shortest in her year. Maybe it had something to do with spending ten years in a cupboard and being fed very little.

"Cal, you haven't looked in the mirror this morning, have you?" The sarcastic tone of voice Dora used gave away that she already knew the answer to her question. Biting her lip she thought about how she'd been in too deep thought as she'd brushed her teeth to glance in the mirror. Even the shower she'd decided to have after the nightmare was a foggy memory, she'd been half awake having it but had felt a deep need to wash away the battle from yesterday so she wouldn't have it clinging to her come morning. But even looking back on that she couldn't think of anything that would make Dora look at her like that.

"Nooo…" She dragged out confused, she put her cutlery down forgetting about her waffles.

"I think you should look into one." Dora's hair curled up, becoming crazed ringlets with the colour steadily returning brown.

Frowning she got to her feet but stayed by her seat with her gaze still fixed onto Dora's. "What will I see?" She had to keep herself from looking down at herself again, as if a second look would change anything.

"Are you sure you're not a metamorphmagus?" Dora's eyebrows pinched together, her grey eyes turned to Teddy who'd been quiet for their entire exchange. His light green eyes remined her strongly of Remus when he'd looked at her concerned, which had been an almost permanent expression on his face the more time they'd spent together.

"No…" She resisted drawing her hand through her hair in worry, the action passed down through her father according to Sirius. "I'll go look in a mirror then." Turning she made her way out into the hallway, just a couple of steps left was a framed mirror on the wall above a large pine sideboard. She was momently glad that her ancestors hadn't charmed any of their mirrors to speak back. That was a small mercy on her mounting nerves.

When she finally stood right in front of the mirror she took a step back in surprise. The first thing to register was that the familiar curly auburn hair now reached her shoulders, her skin looked a shade paler and her hazel eyes held an emerald green hue. That wasn't all, where she used to just be able to see her face, she could now see her torso. She'd evidently grown, she also looked healthy as if she'd filled out somewhat. The confusing sight before her sent her running back into the dining room, startling Dora with the door flying open. "What the hell?"

~ oOo ~

Loki

He looked about himself in confusion; he appeared to be in some expansive gardens. Not like any he had seen on Asgard. In fact, the manor house didn't look to be of Asgardian design. He watched as candlelight flickered through the windows and heard laughter coming from within. He turned away from it all, reminded of how Thor and his friends would celebrate after a battle.

His eyes took in the odd landscape, wondering of where he was dreaming. His eyes caught on a glint of red. He looked around the bush and saw a female humming to herself. Her tanned skin glowed in the darkness as she walked amongst the flowers her fingers tracing them as she passed. Light hit the back of her hand and he saw a glimpse of a mark there. He ran forwards hardly daring to believe it. He'd found her his soul mate. He almost tripped over himself in his eagerness.

"Hey, there you are!" a voice shouted from another direction. He watched as his soul mate glanced over giving him a view of her profile.

"Padma?" he stepped closer watching how she drew breath, how her fingers jerked away from the flowers and how her figure became stiff. He recognized the effects of a recent battle. He paid the stranger no mind as he looked at the young lady with short messy red hair.

"I've been looking for you, people are beginning to realize your absence." He watched as his lady breathed out and looked away.

"I can't handle it in there. So much happiness and praise. I feel as if the weight of the world is once again on my shoulders. I thought killing Voldemort would bring an end to that."

"I know. All they see is the savoir. The one who finally put an end to the war." He looked at them confused, there weren't any wars that Asgard knew about. "I understand that you want to escape from all that." The other young woman gestured towards the house.

"It's not just their thanking," he stepped closer to her his eyes fixed on the mark on her hand, recognizing it as his Rune. "Mrs. Weasley approached me, asking me when I planned to get married." His eyes snapped to her face watching her breath out a short laugh. "She even suggested her own sons!"

"Yes," the other one said. "I saw Neville's eyes watching you earlier." He narrowed his eyes as a chumming took his stomach. How dare those men think themselves worthy of her!

"I'm sorry Pad. I know you were starting to like him." He walked closer wanting to memorize her face.

"It's not your fault." He saw the one called Padma wave her hand. "You're going to get marriage proposals coming at you left and right. Probably some contracts as well. You're going to have to be careful of what you sign."

"Thanks for the warning." He watched entranced as she smiled. Her hazel eyes that had specks of emerald green danced in the torchlight.

~ oOo ~