The sun had been shining brightly down from the sky all day. Although by now it was starting to set. On the road heading out of the streets of London was a small bright yellow Volkswagen beetle. Finally managing to get free from one of those all too familiar traffic jams, it would try to speed out and escape the bustle of the big city life. Although the car was making fast progress during the late afternoon, there was one thing left to do. The need for more gas. The yellow car pulled over to a small gas station. Out stepped a petite woman in a pair of bellbottomed jeans with bright sown patterns on the legs of the pants. Bright flowers up the two legs, covering her upper self in a late summer jacket. The weather had just started to nip at her, slowly becoming colder. Being all to used to warm summers.
In the background she could hear the ocean. Pushing some brown hair aside she'd turn and look towards the cliffs not far off. Although it was first the mere beauty of the landscape that struck her, she tilted her head. Something seemed, awfully familiar? Penny, tried to shake the feeling and just kept filling up her car with gas. Yet the feeling gnawed on her, even as she hurried inside to pay and get a few things for the road. Glancing out the window as she was picking out a bottle of cola, and a package of mints, she realized why. It was that strange dream she had, not too long ago. It had been an unsettling dream. She had those, fairly often, and sometimes they turned out to be true. Although she doubted it to be true, she could feel the draw. Surely it couldn't hurt to look. Penny felt a sting to her heart as she tried to mentally talk herself out of it. In her dream she had seen a young man follow an even younger child out towards the cliff, and that horrible feeling washed over her. Just the thought made her shudder. But what better way of disproving it? That it was merely a dream, that it was nothing but nonsense. Then again, what if it turned out to have some substance and she stumbled over the skeleton of a child? Perhaps the parents of the child would have some peace if she did. The notion of a rotting body was far worse. In the dream they had all been dressed very differently from the current fashion, so she might not find anything at all. After all, it was but a dream. Picking up a sandwich, another bottle of cola, some mints, and a few things. The drive back home to Worcester would take a few hours at best. Stepping back outside to the setting sun she pulled a colourful knit scarf out of her bag and wrapped it around her neck. Eyes still finding that area that looked oh so familiar. She had just gotten into the car, put it in drive when she decided. What could it hurt? So she parked it in a parkinglot next to the gas-station, locked it, and headed on over.
The soft wind tugged at her hair. Making the long curls turn into a mess atop of her head. She had a hat with her too, but she wasn't pulling that out yet. It was strangely nice to walk over the hard ground. Having some fresh air after the performance in London. The closer she got to the edge, the clearer it become, this was surely from her dreams. Huddling in her own arms, she stood there not far from the edge just looking out over the waves, the ocean, smelling the brine. It was a bit odd, she couldn't hear the normal seagulls. Those little monsters that loved to dive down and snatch her food if she stood too still near any water. Perhaps she was just being silly? That notion struck her, so as she turned her eyes caught on what looked like dark old wood. Being of curious nature she stepped closer to see what it was. It seemed mounted to the wall of the cliff. It was, a sort of stairs, leading to an insanely small beach, far down there. Why not? She had gotten so far. Biting on her lower lip, she found herself heading down the old squeaking wood stairs. They were old, hardly safe. Why was she even going down there? After some slow 5 minutes, approximately she found herself safely, if one could say that, by the beach. Was this one of those beaches that disappeared and reappeared according to the tide? So many questions. It was then she saw a strange small shadow, and sounds coming from nearby. It was rather loud, and oddly creepy. One had sounded like a scream, the other noises sounded like moans and grunts. Fighting perhaps? Who on earth would fight down there. Inching closer she followed after, to where she had seen the strange small shadow. It appeared to be further on the side. Hard to see in the dark rocks, she pulled out her flashlight. Clicking the on and off button a few times she fumbled. But it appeared to be some sort of cave. She had come so far, it sounded like someone at least was in pain. So she took a hold of the rocks of the cliff, the water was cold and probably deep. Penny calmed herself, she knew how to closer, the sounds grew louder. Then she managed to scramble over and up into what seemed like a cave.
"-Hello…?" she called out. And for one second, all that met her was a wall of silence. Then the groans, she heard them. They were louder, and she heard dragging sounds. Injury perhaps.
"-Get out!" someone shouted. A man. It sounded like a man. As her sight adjusted to the darkness of the cave, she took a few steps inside. Convinced there was someone injured. There was no good reason why anyone or anything would be in that cave. The sound of water splashing under her shoe as she stepped echoed in a haunting manner. A figure was visible, no several. They looked human. Penny grabbed for her flashlight again, this time turning it on and shining it right forward. What she saw, was not what she expected.
Before her was a pale, dead body. She could tell it was dead. It was strangely coloured, bloated, an arm was missing. Another was skinny, almost a skeleton. Their face was twisted in a haunting expression. Their jaw hanging limp, eyes rolled back, or blanked out. One had even black eyes. They were, zombies! Fear jumped into her chest. She could fel her heart going 1000 beats a minute. Moving the flashlight around she could hear them hiss and grunt. Although one had been coming for it, it stopped when the light hit them. Her flashlight had bounced around some, until it hit a small crowd of them near water. They were trying to pull someone under. Eyes went big. They let go of him. And before she could think of something else. The man came towards her, grabbed her and…she heard a pop?
He had thought his day had come. Those things had a firm grip of him, Kreacher had luckily showed up to help him. It seemed however someone had heard them. A muggle from the look of it. But that muggle had just saved his life. As he grabbed her, he apparated, taking the two of them somewhere else. It was of course, instinct. The landing was more of silent awkwardness. Regulus was holding on tightly to a young woman, his own age with long brown hair, and fair skin. Once he let go she backed up, and looked around, with a clear expression of distress.
"-Please, stay calm, I can explain all of this…."
The girl threw him a look of doubt. Slowly she was backing off, and for the first time he found himself trying to grab and hold onto a muggle.
"-Please…" it looked for a second like she had wanted to scream, then had stopped.
The silence lingered. They were in the middle of 'no-where'. Although he wasn't quite sure what to do, a plan was quickly forming in his mind. What place was better to hide a horcrux, than somewhere they'd never even look? Like a muggle. There was no need for introductions; he saw she had a purse with her. The plan was already formed. Grabbing his wand, he turned, and the next word spoken was "Stupefy" the girl stiffed right there on the spot, and he ran to catch her before she tilted over and hurt herself. Kneeling beside her, He started to fumble through the contents of her purse. Finally finding a bright pink wallet, typical girl. He smirked a bit because she hadn't struck him as one of the overly girly girl ones. Opening the wallet, he found her drivers-license. He didn't know what it was, he just needed her identified, and he managed to by using that. The photo of the girl, a non-moving one, not very flattering either, along with age, address, and name, even car. Penelope Iris (?) Gosling. Living at 10 Lovelace Street, Worcester. Then he found a pen and notepad in her purse and scribbled it down on for him to remember. Taking a deep breath, it was a plan, the only plan he had right now.
"-I'm very sorry for this…." Once more the wand lifted "obliviate"
Penny found herself waking up inside her little beetle. Her bag on the other seat. A cola bottle sticking out of it. Had she fallen asleep? Her body felt strange. Stiff, a bit achy even. It was late however, her parents had to been worried sick. Although befuddled, puzzled, and honestly feeling strange, she started the car and headed on home. There was this feeling in the back of her mind that something had happened. She recalled stopping at the gas-station, buying a few things, that was still there. Maybe she had just fallen asleep? That had to be it.
Once she got home a worried mother and father met her in the door.
"-where have you been young lady!" her mother said, in her dressing robe, standing there on the steps in front of their home.
"-I'm sorry mom" she chirped, rubbing her eyes."I was just tired, I took a nap on my way over here"
It was odd though, she still felt very, very tired. Yanking her bag with her, she locked the car, headed on in while she spoke to her parents. Telling them all about her day. About the performance, about London, how much fun she and her friends have had. But nothing worth mentioning about her journey home. Dragging her heavy feet up the stairs she finally fell onto her bed, dropping her purse beside her. Starting to sort through the items to put them all away she was a bit puzzled. She could have sworn she bought two bottles of cola, but there was only one in there, although she had drank half of it. Her flashlight was gone too. Maybe she had only taken one of the bottles from the station? Maybe it was just stuck under the seat of her car, it was possible. Whilst while rummaging through the bag she found a necklace. It looked like a locket of sorts. A long silver chain, with a well-crafted locket with a big S on it. The S being crafted in green gems, probably emeralds. Quite stunning work. It appeared to be very old. Holding it up Penny stared at it with big eyes. It had to be worth a fortune. When had this come into her possession? Maybe one of her friends had left it in her car and it had fallen into her bag? Farfetched but, it was beautiful, and she couldn't recall anyone giving her anything. Feeling uneasy about it she put it away in a drawer. The day had seemed so normal, yet, it felt so uncanny...