A Mother’s Plight by mrsmcclnt

A Tale of Opposites

Merope sat up in her bed screaming. Her eyes were swollen from the hysterical crying she had been doing in her dream. Her body, drenched in sweat, was shaking badly. She opened her eyes and found herself surrounded by several women in her room. The barmaid and two others were sitting by her bed with anxious looks on their faces.

“Merlin’s beard, she’s awake!” yelled the barmaid. They all gathered closely around Merope, who cried a little more to vent her sadness. She felt a wave of relief as she saw her familiar surroundings. “Gracious, child! You had us worried!”

“I’m sorry, I was just having a bad dream! I did not mean to disturb anyone,” Merope said. She was embarrassed that she had caused so much commotion.

“A bad dream?” the barmaid asked. She looked even more worried as she looked at Merope.

“Yes, a dream. Well, more like a nightmare! I’m sorry. The hot chocolate I had before I went to bed must have roused the little one a bit much.” The baby was still kicking her as she was tried to calm down.

The ladies in the room passed each other some more concerned glances. The barmaid looked back at Merope and took a deep breath as if trying to keep herself calm. “Dear, was there anyone in the room with you?”

Merope looked confused. She looked at the other women who were staring at her with the same expression “What? What do you mean?”

“Did anything happen to you while you were sleeping? Do you remember if someone came to visit you? Anyone out of the ordinary?” the barmaid asked calmly.

“No. Not that I … no. No one. Not that I can recall. I remember finishing my cocoa after Cassandra and little Sybill left last night. Then you came to me to tell me that my room was ready. I went to bed and … just had this bad dream that I couldn’t wake up from! Now I’m awake and here you all are.” Merope could tell that nothing she said provided any comfort to the women. “What’s wrong? I’m sorry to cause so much trouble!”

“No trouble, dear. We’ve just been worried, that’s all,” one of the ladies said.

“The dream was just so horrible. I did not mean to disturb anyone. I’m terribly sorry to have woken you all,” Merope said, feeling ever so embarrassed.

“Actually, luv, we’ve been awake all this time … waiting for you,” the barmaid said.

Merope felt even more confused, “All this time? Waiting? Did I miss something?”

“Well, you’ve missed a few days, dear,” the other lady said. “But I suspect in your state, you must have not been resting properly. This must be the first comfortable bed you’ve had in a while. ‘Cause you haven’t woken up since we last saw you.”

Merope was stunned. “Days?”

The barmaid looked to the other ladies and motioned for them to leave the room. As soon as they were gone she sat on the edge of the bed with Merope to stroke her hand. “The night you went to bed, after your talk with Ms. Cassandra, one of the guests here heard some commotion going on in your room.”

“It must have been me dreaming,” Merope said.

“Well if it were just you dreaming, then we wouldn’t have had much to worry about. But the guest heard you screaming out. So we had some cause for worry. And rightly so! When we came into your room, I found you in your bed soaking wet. And your room was in a complete shambles. The place looked as though you’d been fighting off werewolves, Dementors, or something all by yourself! We thought maybe you’d been attacked. So we’ve been waiting here ever since.”

Merope sat there feeling very troubled. Her mind flew back to the incident with Mr. Burke in his shop when she had pawned her locket. Now this had happened. The occurrences just keep getting stronger. But this time someone could have gotten hurt. She looked around the room and saw no signs of damage, but she could tell from the barmaid’s expression that something horrible had taken place. Merope caught a glimpse of the window and saw the snow coming down, “What day is this?”

“It’s the day before New Year’s Eve.” The barmaid could see that this information overwhelmed Merope. She sat more closely to her to give her comfort. “Come now, dear. Don’t get upset! We were just concerned, that’s all. We checked around the pub and saw no one crazy lurking about. And thankfully there was no harm done to you or the baby. You must have been tired that’s all! We couldn’t get you to the hospital ‘cause of the bad weather. It was too risky to Apparate or use the Floo Network to transport you because of the baby. And flying by broomstick was definitely out of the question. So we just kept an extra lookout just in case. Luckily there was a midwife who was snowed in with us. She’s been standing by just in case we run into any trouble.”

Merope felt incredible grateful, but withdrawn at the same time. Between losing Tom’s love, having this baby alone, and these terrible disturbances around her, she didn’t know how much more she could handle. The dream had almost taken her to the breaking point. And now with one day before New Year’s Eve, little Sybill’s words kept creeping into her mind:

“On the eve of the New Year, the Serpent’s Heir will be born ….”

She looked to the barmaid and gave her a vacant smile. She didn’t have the strength to put up a brave front for her. The lady understood and returned the same reassuring smile she’d always given Merope. She tried to encourage Merope to get some rest before she left her to herself. But Merope dared not go back asleep. Perhaps it was because she had been asleep for so long, but Merope did not feel like resting at all. And she wasn’t up for company either. She got up from her bed and sat in the chair next to the window. She saw how bad it was outside. The snow was really coming down and was showing no signs of letting up. She couldn’t even see the streets anymore since it was all blanketed in snow.

“What am I to do?” Merope said. It wasn’t the inclement weather that was getting her down. It was all these disturbances occurring around her. She knew they were coming from the baby, but she couldn’t understand how. How was it that a child not even born yet could exert so much control over his surroundings? She knew it wasn’t natural. And then there was the nightmare! She felt there was something more to it - that it couldn’t simply be dismissed as a mere dream.

“Trying to sort it all out, dear?” said a kind voice. She looked up to see Cassandra standing by the fireplace in her room. “I hope you don’t mind me popping in. I heard you might have been in trouble, so I wanted to come and see you as soon as I could.” The old woman sat in the chair right next to Merope. She gave her that same comforting smile that Merope was used to seeing, except this time there was a hint of sadness behind her grin.

“What did you say before?” Merope asked.

“Oh … you looked as though you were sorting your thoughts, child. I thought that I was disturbing you.”

“No. I’m fine. I just had a bad dream. Rather a nightmare … or maybe beyond a nightmare. It seems like a lot of things have been happening around me. And it feels like they’re coming from the baby.”

Merope relayed some of her history as well as her past and present experiences to Cassandra, including the occurrence that had happened with Mr. Burke. She then went on to relay the dream she had had of her husband and son. Telling the story sent chills down Merope’s spine as she recalled some of the more vivid moments of the dream. She looked to Cassandra, hoping to hear the same comforting response that she had given before in the pub, but none came - at least not what she expected.

“Cassandra, maybe … if you could?” Merope tried to ask.

“Dear heart, I’ve learn that most people tend not to listen no matter what I say or see.”

“But you know I will! You said it yourself,” Merope pleaded with the old seer. She took one of Cassandra’s hands and placed it on her belly. Cassandra gave a reluctant sigh, then closed her eyes so that she could concentrate.

Nothing happened at first, but then a strong gust of wind entered the room. The fire blew out in the fireplace as the wind began to pick up force. Merope looked terrified but saw that Cassandra was calm, although looking rather pale and sweaty. Her eyes were still closed as she was concentrating on the moment.

Then it stopped.

Cassandra removed her hands from Merope, then waved her wand to the fireplace to illuminate the room again. Her natural color returned to her as she sat back in her chair, stroking her forehead with her fingers. Her smile was looking somewhat grim, but she gave a smile nonetheless. Merope poured her a glass of water as the old woman was trying to gather her thoughts.

“You see it, don’t you? You see the danger ahead? It’s more than just a lack of maternal instincts! There’s real trouble there, isn’t there?” Merope was sitting on the edge of her seat waiting for her to respond.

“Dear, I …” Again, another sigh from the seer as she tried to find the right words to say. “I don’t want to alarm you any more than you already are. But yes, I see it too.”

Merope wanted to cry, but she had been doing that so much that she had no more tears to shed, “What am I supposed to do? Am I to give birth to … to a monster?”

Cassandra took Merope’s hand and gave it a gentle squeeze, “Yes, dear. You have this child like any good mother would do.”

Merope was flabbergasted, “What about the trouble ahead or the danger he will cause?”

“Merope, life itself is full of opposites: day and night, love and hate, life and death. One cannot be without the other. And how could they? How else would you know what one was unless you had experienced its opposite? How would you recognize the light unless you were sitting in darkness? How do you experience hate or disappointment in someone unless you have loved them or cared for them? How does life renew itself without some form of death? As we look to the snow on the ground and these barren trees, we know that there are flowers, grass, and leaves waiting to come forth in the spring. Sometimes these cycles take time. But you will see that where there is one … the other does follow.”

“But this child?” Merope pleaded.

Cassandra looked deep into Merope’s eyes, “Where there is evil, there is always good waiting to fight. This is life’s great balance that we all must weigh in on. As much as you carry this great burden, there also lies within you hope, dear. Things are not always what they seem. There will be trouble ahead and your child will have a great part in that indeed. But you still bear hope within you.

“Despite being descended from the Serpent’s blood and having such a poor upbringing, you still emerged a decent and kind person with great strength and inner beauty. No weak person could have survived the torment you have been put through, for as long as you have.

“And although you were a little misguided in your efforts with your husband, you owned up to your faults and showed great remorse for your actions. It takes courage and great moral character to admit when you’re wrong. And it took a lot of love on your part to set him free. A person of lesser being would still be giving Tom that potion. But in your heart, whether you realize it or not, you were doing the right thing by confessing the truth to him and letting him leave, despite the fact that he was walking away from his child. The truth may have come a little late, but some things do take time. That is true love. Maybe not a love for him, but at least a love for yourself, ‘cause it does no good for someone to hold onto secrets or to rest on a guilty conscience.”

Cassandra stood up to give Merope a warmhearted hug. Merope tried to hold onto her for a moment longer, trying to gather the same solace she’d been able to get before. But she knew it was time for the older witch to leave. Cassandra walked over to the fire to throw some powder within it.

“No matter what follows next or what you may see, you must always hold on to the good within you, Merope. For wherever there is goodness, there is always hope. One must never give up on hope.” Cassandra stepped into the fire and vanished.

The last thing Merope saw was Cassandra’s smile before she disappeared into the flames.

However sad Cassandra had looked, she had managed a smile before leaving Merope.

Another one of life’s opposites.

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