the marriage stone (Discontinued)

Chapter 62 - Stonehenge

During the daytime hours, Stonehenge was typically crowded with tourists from all over the world. But that night the site was empty of Muggles, the vast plains and the enormous grass-covered barrows that dotted the land were silent save for the sound of the wind. There was a highway that ran near the site, but it too was unusually empty, and the few Muggles that drove by in cars never glanced in the direction of the ancient monument. The Muggle parking lot was utterly still and the night watchmen had fallen asleep.

But it was the monument itself that surprised Harry the most. He'd seen photos of Stonehenge, but this looked nothing like he'd been expecting. This was not the ancient ruin depicted in photographs. Just like Hogwarts appeared to be nothing but ruins to Muggles, Stonehenge was the same. But to Harry it was rebuilt, the stones all back in their proper places, unbroken and strong. The thin rope barrier that circled the monument and kept the Muggles from walking across the ancient earthen bank that surrounded the stones was gone, and the ditch that edged the bank was now lined with burning torches in a fiery circle that lit up the stones with flickering lights.

Harry felt immediately drawn toward the enormous heel stone of the circle where there was a break in the earthen bank as if indicating the entrance point to the circle. He took a step toward it, only to notice immediately that Dumbledore had taken a step in the opposite direction. There were other Wizards and Witches arriving, all moving to various positions in the circle. When Harry glanced uncertainly at Dumbledore, the old man just smiled at him. "Go on, my boy," he urged, nodding toward the heel stone. "We must each take the places meant for us."

A sense of melancholy washed over Harry as he realized what Dumbledore meant. He was ultimately alone in this - his place was different and he would have to proceed alone from this point on. Dumbledore reached out and squeezed his hand. "I don't know what you will learn this night, Harry," he said calmly, his blue eyes unusually bright behind his glasses. "But you are not truly alone. All who love you are always with you. Do not forget that."

Nodding, Harry squeezed the old man's hand before releasing it and turning away. The bell was tolling louder and the circle's entrance was calling to him.

The distance to the heel stone was longer than he'd guessed, the circumference of the outer circle much larger than he'd expected. The main stone circle itself was far smaller. In the flickering torchlight he could see men and women taking up places along the outer circle, standing in the torchlight and staring around in awe as the night wind whipped about them. He couldn't help but wonder what it was he was expected to do here - Dumbledore believed he would learn something.

As he walked, his eyes were drawn to the large shadow of the barrow on the far side of the Muggle roadway. He found himself shivering as he stared at it, and it occurred to him that while this was a place of power, it was also a place of death. High overhead in the night sky, he saw the black shapes of two ravens circling, and he wondered again how he had come to such a place.

While to the Muggle eye the path up to the heel stone was only a faint depression in the earth, to Harry it was a clearly marked path lined with crushed white stones. The moment he stepped upon it, he felt a shudder of energy move through his body and for an instant he saw brilliant lines of power radiating out in all directions from the center of the great monument, like a burning spider's web upon the earth.

He shivered and pulled his coat tighter around his shoulders. The air was cool and sweet, the scent of grass and distant rain surrounding him. Overhead the sky was lit brilliantly with stars, no nearby Muggle lights to dim their clarity. The standing stones were shadows in the moonlight, the torchlight dancing upon their surface.

He had dreamed of this, he realized, these lines of power. He could feel them now deep in his bones and he understood that they did not simply crisscross England, but rather circled the earth, connecting all things together. For one brief moment he felt connect to everything, all things past and present, unified in this field of magic. He wondered if this was what he had been meant to learn?