Disclaimer: I own none of the recognizable characters. Just borrowing.
A/N: I'm working on a couple of stories now, a little scatter brained, but I'm really going to try and finish them. All of them. This one has been inside my head for a couple months before I decided to just try and write it. And yes, I know this is really short, it's supposed to be that way. This is just the intro, Chapter 1 will be out really soon.
The Book Man
Prologue
My fingers splayed out against the cold stone and I leaned my body into the wall, trying to understand. I could've sworn I'd seen or at least felt something here, and -- yes, I could feel it now. Something warm against the palm of my hand, in just the one brick. I took a single step back from the wall and stared at it. There! A shimmering light pulsating in the center of the stone, a faint glow just barely visible, but it was definitely there. Or I was definitely insane. That was another option.
I touched my right index finger to the little light, and the moment contact was made, another light shone through a little to my left. Beneath my hand now was nothing but a plain, old rock. I moved and placed my hand on the second light -- only to have it move again! The pattern repeated and I found myself darting up and down the corridor, all along this strange wall, chasing lights. I didn't know what purpose it could serve, but the sense that there was a purpose was so strong that I kept on with it.
Night fell outside the castle and I knew that it was past curfew. If caught, I would be facing -- well I didn't really know what they'd do if they caught me out at night -- expulsion? Detention? Extra homework? It didn't really matter to me. I admit that the thought of Snape or that Umbridge woman coming around the corner and whisking me away to their office and the unknown horrors that await me there frightened me a bit, but I felt that the risk was necessary: I had no idea whether or not the little light would return if I wasn't there to catch it, so I stayed.