Dream & Shadow

15* The Lighthouse

The end of Cleveland Way outside Withby marked the borderline from the muggle civilization to the wizarding world. Leonor soaked the salty wind into her lungs. The stunning view across the sandy beach and the fierce waves of the ocean gave a feeling of freedom. Gringotts ordered to wait at the beautiful spot and message Leonor's arrival to Greengrass Manor for pick up. Pauline clasped Leonor's arm with her talons.

"Pauline, listen carefully. Deliver the message to the Goblins and return here directly. You've to be fast. I want you to follow me and the Goblins secretly. Inform Severus if something happens to me, right? You remember, the dark tall teacher at Hogwarts? I fix the message within your feathers. The Goblins must not know."

Pauline hooted in consent, circled upwards and flew determined along the coastline. Leonor considered Severus' offer a couple of times, but she couldn't call for him. There was no trust in the Goblins. They'd observe the cliffs, there were enough hiding holes and Severus would be trapped easily. The owl had to be the emergency help. Pauline wouldn't fail.

A large rock served Leonor as a seat. She leaned back with her head in the neck and eyes closed. The breezy wind brushed over her face and played with some loose strands. After a while, Leonor investigated the distance. It would take a while before the Goblins arrived. Her thoughts wandered along the horizon. There had been plans, feeble plans to escape the criminal family and it didn't work out. Leonor was too young to run away before her mother died. She worked hard to become a muggle doctor but ended with forensic investigation to hold the promise of MACUSA for getting a new identity. The university seemed perfect when Daniel stepped into Leonor's life, but it lasted only short. Daniel denounced her with the truth of the past. Leonor fled to New York, exchanging the countryside against the anonymity of the city. It hadn't helped. Juan found her and even worse, Leonor was glad to leave again, forgetting a few friends to escape their young family luck. She travelled Europe, but did she ever arrive somewhere? She had again a plan to settle in Scotland, to work with the living, to keep and improve life, but the Gringotts assignment would be difficult. Severus was right; the money wasn't worth it. It could cost the plan of working as a healer; it could cost her life. Plans are necessary to find the way to the target, but not all plans made happy. The wish to arrive somewhere home was stronger than ever when Pauline returned with a tiny scroll of parchment at her left leg.

The letter contained the information about the location of the treasure chest. The Goblins wanted her to apparate to a lighthouse further north. Leonor stroked the owl and repeated her request to follow blindly. A sharp twist transported the witch at the foot of a rocky bank. Two grim looking Goblins waited at the entrance of the old rusty lighthouse. The red and white colour peeled off the old disused place. All searchlights were out of order for a long time. The waves nudged hungrily at the round rocks. Cold spray water made the air moist and clammy. A dark cloud covered the sun like an undesired Djinn. The manor house of the Greengrass family was invisible. A hilltop overlooked the rocks and the sea with a loopy path near the far end of the bank. A person stood watching at the path, little heightened to overlook the scenery. The Goblins and Leonor shook hands. The treasure chest was placed in a larger coffer with an official Gringotts' lock, and the lock was removed by the Goblins after Leonor's final signature to the handover of the heirloom. They receded towards the sloping path, muttering under their breath and joined the solitary individual. Pauline slid silently in a low-level flight to the lighthouse and landed on a bent railing.

It would be the last Gringotts assignment. Leonor vowed to herself and gave Pauline a final encouraging nod. The owl settled in a safe distance overlooking the scene. Leonor was prepared and decided to direct all powers into the 'Alohomora'. The spell hit the little treasure chest with a strong force and shook it violently before releasing the empathic-curse. It hit Leonor square into stomach and chest, and she landed hard on the metal remains of the lighthouse door. Leonor didn't realize it; she just fell into a golden silence of the curse. She watched memories of a blonde woman and a youthful man in a yellowish shimmering light. It looked like sepia photographs of warm summer days. However, the pleasure faded into dark arguments, tears, and loss of love. The beauty of the woman collapsed into pain and misery. The photographs showed the eerie roaming of Cathy into absurd magical places searching for dark witchcraft. Every memory of séances with evil hags took more of the strength of the expecting mother. The young woman was riven by grief and despair when realizing the death of the unborn. All energy wasted by summoning back the father while sacrificing the child; the heartbreak drowned in the icy waters of the North Sea followed by more overlaying fateful pictures of the unknown.