FIC: "Opalescent," Alecto/Katie, R Title: Opalescent Author: kethlenda Characters: Alecto/Katie with two OC narrators Rating: R Warnings: Non-con Word Count: ~2000 Summary: Opal is a stone that is most suitable for curses, though the art of enchanting the stone is delicate and dangerous, and only safely undertaken by one born in the month of October. Author's notes: Written for one of the May prompts at daily_deviant.
"Ah, yes, the opal necklace. Beautiful piece, is it not? This item dates back to my father's time; the elder Mr. Burke—you may have known him--may he rest in peace.
"Quite a convoluted story behind it, I must say. Goblin-made; you can tell by the intricate working of the silver. My father bought it from the goblins himself many years ago. It wasn't cursed then, mind you. A unique and spectacular necklace, to be sure, but not in any way baneful.
"It was purchased by one Alecto Carrow--you might remember that name? No? Ah, well, I suppose you might not; she died years ago and few of her nefarious deeds have gone down in history. But as it happens, Madam Carrow was a Death Eater, one of the Dark Lord's minions, and she knew her way around a curse, let me tell you!
"She bought the necklace as a gift for her dear friend Bellatrix Black upon the occasion of the latter's marriage to Rodolphus Lestrange. Ah, I see you recognize those names! The rumor at the time was that Alecto cursed it herself to spite Bellatrix; it was said that Alecto had wanted Lestrange for herself and was bitterly jealous of her friend. I don't know for sure; I don't claim to know everything about the personal lives of my father's clients. All I can say is that my father didn't curse it himself. At Borgin and Burkes, we do occasionally deal in cursed objects, but we're not Dark wizards ourselves, perish the thought!
"Of course, it wasn't as easy as that to fool old Bellatrix Black. She figured out pretty quick that there was something fishy about the necklace and gave it away to some Muggle who'd been giving her trouble. Well, the Muggle died straightaway, of causes unknown, and passed the necklace along to his heir, who also died under mysterious circumstances, and so on and so on until this innocuous-looking bit of jewelry came to be feared and dreaded.
"That was when my father heard of what had happened. His motives, of course, were only the best; he didn't want any more innocent Muggles dying as a result of his own merchandise, so he bought it from the last dead Muggle's daughter. She was glad to be shut of it, of course, having seen what it could do. And so it returned to Borgin and Burkes.
"That's not the end of the tale, though. The necklace was purchased some years later by a Draco Malfoy, nephew of the same Bellatrix Lestrange; I don't know if he was tipped off to its properties by his aunt or whether it was just one of those odd coincidences, but the fact remains that he bought it, and used it in an attempt to murder Hogwarts's old Headmaster, Albus Dumbledore. He very nearly killed one of his own classmates instead, by accident, and the opal necklace was confiscated. It was recovered from Dumbledore's effects by a man named Mundungus Fletcher, who specialized in antiques of uncertain provenance, and so again it returned to us…"
***
There's a sensation of vertigo, of dizziness, and then Katie lands with a thud that knocks the wind out of her.
She sees nothing but a shifting, flashing sea of colors, and she wonders if she is blind.
"Leanne?"
There is no answer.
"Leanne!"
Katie holds her hand in front of her face. She can see it just fine, so she supposes she hasn't actually gone blind. She can't think of any better explanation for the flashes of color, though, and they're on the verge of giving her a headache.
Feeling bruised all over, she forces herself to a sitting position. The ground beneath her is cold and slick, and dappled with the same play of iridescent light, though muted, as if there is something darker lying beneath the surface.
I'm somewhere. The thought sounds dumb to her as she turns it over and over in her head, but it's a revelation of sorts--she's not asleep, she's not mad, she's not blind; she's in a place. And if she's in a place, that means there's a way out. Because there has to have been a way in, or else she wouldn't be here.
Katie pushes herself to her feet and tries to retrace her steps. She and Leanne had gone to the Three Broomsticks, then she'd gone to the ladies' loo and had something pressed into her hands, and everything after that is a blur. She thinks she remembers rowing with Leanne, though not what they were arguing about or whether it was important.
She paces the length and breadth of her prison. She discovers that it's about the size of the Gryffindor common room, oval-shaped, bounded on all sides and above by a chill unyielding dome of the shimmering stuff.
Katie presses against the wall of the dome over and over, on the assumption that there must be a hidden door somewhere. There has to be a way out.
***
From Lady Lodestone's Book of Lapidary Lore, by Lady Laetitia Lodestone
Opal is a stone that is most suitable for curses, though the art of enchanting the stone is delicate and dangerous, and only safely undertaken by one born in the month of October.
An uncursed opal is safe for anyone to handle. Once cursed, however, only a child of October may touch it with confidence. Therefore, I do not advise that those born in other months attempt to enchant opals. There is always the danger that, as a spider may blunder into the sticky strands of its own web, the witch or wizard may come into contact with the stone by accident and unleash its dreadful might.
A cursed opal has the sinister (yet often quite useful!) power to trap the soul of anyone who touches it (save, of course, the October-born) within the stone itself, imprisoning them there until such time as he or she who hexed the stone deigns to release the soul imprisoned thus from its bondage.
In addition, the sorcerer who laid the enchantment upon the opal may, if he or she so pleases, journey in dreams to the opal-prison and there visit further torment upon the fettered spirit.
Often the victim of the curse dies, mere days after the curse is triggered; my suspicion is that the soul and body do not take well to being so parted.
I have found through extensive experimentation that the souls of non-magical persons lack the strength to withstand the stretching of the tether binding soul and body for any length of time; Muggles who touch a cursed opal tend to die instantly rather than become trapped within the stone.
***
Katie doesn't know how many hours or days it's been when the woman appears; it's hard to reckon time under this madly flickering sky.
The woman looks like the witch from the fairy tales Mum used to read to Katie at bedtime. Not the elegant sort of witch with an imperious beauty and flowing haute couture robes, but the other sort, the witch who crouches cackling at the edge of civilization in her tumbledown hut, devouring little girls and licking their juice from her fingers. The woman is short and on the edge of old age, with a leering grin, unkempt grey hair, and a face that seems off somehow, like someone put it together wrong.
Still, the sight of her is a rush of hope to Katie. If she got in here, maybe she knows how to get out. "Hello?" says Katie tentatively.
The woman snorts and giggles, her laugh shaking and rasping as though she's short of breath. "Who in Grendel's name are you?"
"K-Katie Bell. Of Hogwarts. And you are…"
"Name's Alecto. Hogwarts, eh? Still in school, I should have known, a succulent little creature like you…"
"Er…thank you, Alecto…ma'am. But you wouldn't happen to know how to get out of here, would you?"
Alecto sidles up to Katie and runs one gnarled, clammy hand up and down Katie's torso and hips, lingering a bit too long on the side of Katie's breast. "'Course I do, little girl. I'm not going to tell you, though."
Katie twists out of Alecto's reach, backing away as far as she can. The curved wall of her prison stops her. In a moment Alecto is upon her, clawing hungrily at Katie's breasts. Katie bites her lip and turns away, closing her eyes and willing the sensitive nerves to wither, atrophy, so she won't have to feel this, won't have to respond to this.
Her body disobeys, her nipples growing hard and sensitive between Alecto's fingers. Another wheezy cackle, and Alecto snakes one hand between Katie's thighs.
Katie cries out a moan of misery and shame and fear. It echoes off the iridescent walls, and no one hears but Alecto.
***
From Lady Lodestone's Book of Lapidary Lore, by Lady Laetitia Lodestone, continued
As with all curses, however, the curse laid upon an opal can be thwarted by various measures. Prompt application of certain countercurses can prevent the victim from dying of the effects of the spell, though these curses alone will not release the soul from the stone.
Destruction of the opal will free the spirit from its incarceration, enabling it to rejoin its rightful body; however, few victims' bodies survive long enough to make such a reunion possible.
***
Katie knows days have passed; she wakes and sleeps and wakes again. She is always tired, though she seems to have no other bodily needs; she is not hungry, nor does she need to use the toilet. Which is mighty convenient, she reflects, as there isn't one.
Alecto comes and goes. There are stretches of wakings and sleepings during which Katie is left entirely alone; there are times Alecto never seems to leave.
Always, Alecto makes use of Katie's body. After she leaves, Katie slips into fitful sleep, waking from nightmares of Alecto and not sure if they're really dreams or if the horrid woman came back without her knowing.
Katie tries to be a good girl for her so that she'll tell her how to get out. One day, she does.
Katie's head is between Alecto's legs, her eyes closed so she doesn't have to think about what she's doing, and Alecto screeches and writhes and finally, finally comes, and afterward she's quieter and more peaceful than usual. Katie knows this is the time; Merlin knows when she might find Alecto vulnerable next.
"I'll tell you how you can get out," the horrid woman says, then flashes a gap-toothed grin. "You can die."
***
"I assure you, however, that the necklace is completely safe now. As you can see, this large central opal, the one that was the focus for the curse, is shattered; see this crack right down the middle? It was Severus Snape who did that--ah, I see you recall that name as well! There's another one who knew his way around the Dark Arts!
"At any rate, he freed the poor girl from the stone, that's how Dumbledore ended up with it, and now the necklace is no more cursed than one you might buy in the most mundance of Muggle jewelers' shops. Still, you have to admit it's a piece of history, having passed through the hands of so many illustrious, and notorious, wizards. What would you say to two hundred Galleons?"
***
There is a loud crack, like the very earth being rent apart, and Katie opens her eyes and sees above her, not the flashing rainbows of her imprisonment, but a bland expanse of white acoustic tile.
"Katie!" cries a voice she recognizes as her mother's, and she struggles against withered muscles to lift herself to a sitting position in the bed.
Mum and Dad are there, and Leanne, and look, Angelina and Alicia have come to see her as well. Katie grins. "I'm back," she says, more to herself than to the others.
It's two more weeks before she's deemed fit to leave St. Mungo's. Everyone--family, friends, Healers--wants to know what she remembers of the time she spent in her coma. She tells them it's all a blank.
The day she returns to Hogwarts, she brushes off the concerns of friends who tell her she should take it easy, and heads outside with her broom. The sun is a dazzling gold and the sky is a flawless blue above her; she soars against its clean brilliance, and tries to banish all memory of a low and opalescent sky and of Alecto's laughter.