The Girl Who Lived

The girl was now leaning against a balcony, watching the Greengrass family members celebrate an eleventh birthday party for the twins on the floor below. Plenty of friends had been invited, by the looks of it, but what was the younger twin doing upstairs, alone?

She was lying flat on her stomach on the floor, spying on the party on the floor below through the bars of the indoor balcony. Another girl, who looked remarkably like her, but a few years younger, was standing behind her, yawning.

"Mum said not to bother Daphne, Sis," she said tiredly. "And it's nearly time for my pills…"

"Shh!" the twin shushed her. "I know! I just want to know what she gets for her birthday, and then I'll get you your medicine and your glass of water…"

Time flashed forward again, and now, the girl was watching the twin stargaze alone on the roof of her house. From then on, the scenes the girl was shown began flashing by faster and faster. She now knew that this twin was named Oleandra; she had just purchased a wand.

And now, Oleandra was on a boat on the dark waters of a lake; the next moment, she was fighting a troll, and then, a gigantic three-headed dog. She was wandering around in a wasteland; in the distance, a field of reeds, hellfire and brimstone, and an icy plain.

Time began skipping forward even faster; she was now watching Oleandra and her companions fighting a gigantic snake. The scene changed. The twin named Oleandra was now bound to a chair and being tortured by a man with long ears and pale skin. The scene changed again: Oleandra was sneaking around and fighting against men much older than she was.

The girl watched Oleandra fighting against a Dragon; swimming in a lake; getting lost in a maze of hedges… And finally, a flash of blinding green light, causing the girl to shield her eyes from the dazzling light.

The girl opened her eyes; she was no longer watching a memory, and she was no longer in the dark maze of her own memories, either; she was standing on the calm surface of a lake. The stars were shining brighter than ever before; both in the sky above, and in the water mirror of the lake below.

And then, the girl's reflection in the water below her spoke.

"Who are you?" the reflection asked. It was the little girl she had encountered in the maze of memories.

The girl looked down at her reflection, and she knew who she was.

"My name is Oleandra Greengrass," she said softly.

The reflection shimmered. The image of the little puzzle pieces girl aged into that of a smiling girl wearing Hogwarts robes, before changing again: she was now wearing a silk robe of deep blue embroidered with countless stars and runic patterns. Indifference filled her visage, and she was looking into the far distance.

"I am the Lady of the Stars," Oleandra said.

The reflection rippled, and the girl's image changed once more; this time, she was wearing near-translucent light-blue flowing robes, much like those Vee had worn. She was now gently smiling, but there was a hint of mischievousness in the smile.

"But I am also the Lady of the Lake," she continued.

The reflection grew darker than night, and the figure in the water blurred. She was now wearing snakeskin robes, and the sigil of the Helm of Terror shone brightly on her forehead. The reflected image was still smiling, but her eyes seemed filled with endless cruelty.

"And... I am also the Dark Lady," she whispered.

The reflection nodded, and Oleandra thought back to her past actions. She had helped others and saved precious lives, but she had also hurt and killed needlessly. There were unresolved, deep-seated resentment and anger buried deep within her, and this was something she needed to acknowledge.

"It is a terrible thing to truly know oneself…" the reflection said emotionlessly. "The Killing Curse destroyed the Shadows, broke us. But piece by piece, we have put ourselves back together. We thought us lost, but we are still here. We are still alive. And now, we need you to open your eyes, Oleandra Greengrass..."

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Oleandra woke up with a start to absolute darkness. She could tell she was lying on her back, but further than that, she couldn't make heads or tails of her situation. She remembered grabbing the Triwizard Cup, the flash of green light… she could barely remember any details from the strange dream she'd just woke up from.

"Hello?" Oleandra called out tentatively, as she felt around her. "Ow! I think I got a splinter…"

She was in some sort of wooden box, as far as she could tell; she couldn't move her limbs away from her body very far. Two sticks of wood had been placed on her chest… the remains of her wand, maybe? Oleandra wasn't particularly claustrophobic, but she was certainly on her way to developing the condition.

"Deep breaths," she told herself, and she closed her eyes, trying to ignore the dull throbbing in her chest. Was it just her broken ribs, or was it getting harder to breathe? She felt her ribcage with her fingers; her bones seemed fine to her; she was healed.

In her mind's eye, Dagaz was very slowly rotating, while Mannaz was gently glowing. Had she put herself in stasis…? And that's when Oleandra came to the obvious conclusion: people must have thought she was dead due to her healing sleep; she had been buried alive. Panic set in, and she began hyperventilating.

"Somebody!" she cried out, banging her fists on the side of her coffin. "Let me out of here! I'm still alive! Can anyone hear me? Help! HELP!"

But no one was answering her calls for help; she was only wasting what precious little oxygen she had left. She'd have to break out of her earthen prison by herself. She closed her eyes again and searched for a nearby target to Tree-Port to.

Without being able to employ full-body stances in this cramped environment, she could only use hand signs or the small runes painted on her body; the maximum distance she could teleport away to was very limited. But to her surprise, she detected the presence of one of her acorns engraved with Berkana above her.

"Wunjo, Berkana, Raidhu, Eihwaz, Dagaz!" she whispered, caressing the runes painted on her body with the tip of her fingers. "Take me to the place where I once stood!"

With the creak of a wooden door turning on its hinges, Oleandra appeared a few feet above where she'd been buried. With morbid curiosity, she took a look at her gravestone.

Oleandra Greengrass

Born June 30, 1980

Died June 24, 1995

And written in ancient runes: Beloved sister and friend.

Daphne must have planted one of her special acorns in the dirt next to her tomb as a symbolic gesture, Oleandra realized; how sweet of her…