I walked down the bleak stone hallway as I brushed my light brown bangs aside. I looked around at the empty paintings, and stopped at one that was my favorite before everything happened. It used to be of a beautiful swan gliding over a pristine lake in the mountains. Now all I saw were the mountains from the background, but browned from forest fire. Even the paintings' worlds are hopeless, I thought to myself. It had been months since anyone had heard of Harry Potter. Months since anyone had dared to hope. Hogwarts just wasn't the same. No, it wasn't the same at all. I pulled on the strap of my off-white shoulder bag as I thought of how much we needed a savior right now.
"HEY YOU!" a young man's voice boomed. I jumped and whipped around. Amycus Carrow stood at the end of the hallway, his dark hair down near his eyes, framing his pointed face. He held his wand down near his side. As he strode powerfully and purposefully towards me, I started to bolt down the way I had come. I ran about three feet before I heard "Petrificus totalus!" Unable to move, I fell painfully onto the cold, hard floor. On my side, I watched as he walked towards me. Once he reached me, he undid the curse with a flick of his wand. "Get up," he snapped. I took my time getting to my feet. He stared down at me with his cold, dark blue eyes as I defiantly stared right back at him with my brown ones. His voice came out smoothly and quietly, treacherous. "What," he questioned, nostrils flaring, "Were you doing in this hallway?" "What do you mean?" I asked coolly. As he opened his mouth to speak, his sister Alecto appeared next to him.
"What do you want, Alecto?" he asked his sister in an annoyed voice. Alecto raised her black eyebrows, and licked her dark red lips before she spoke. "I thought you'd be interested to know," she began, but then her eyes, the same dark shade as Amycus', fell on me. Crap, I thought. The last time I saw Alecto was when Neville and I were running out of her chamber after putting dungbombs under her bed. We knew for a fact that she didn't see Neville, but I was concerned that she had caught a glimpse of me before I darted out after him. Please, dear God, I prayed in my head. Don't let her recognize me. I could tell by Alecto's face that I had no such luck. At first a look of curiosity crossed her face before it melted into anger. "You. Little. Brat," she spat. Amycus looked at her, confused. Bracing myself, I nervously tugged on my dark blue polo. "You…you little bitch!" she screamed. "Don't think I didn't see you! I have half a mind to-" She stopped when Amycus put his hand on her shoulder. "Sister, what are you talking about?" he asked with a bored look. "This filthy, obnoxious little Ravenclaw," she started, "Put dungbombs under my bed last week! She was with someone else that I couldn't see." She pointed at me. "But I definitely saw her." She straightened at looked at her brother, who was now glaring at me. "And anyways," she continued, a smug look on her face, "She's going to get a worse punishment now that we've caught her in one of the forbidden corridors."