Title: Shrouded in Darkness

DISCLAIMER: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

Summary: When Dante's nightmare comes to life, he discovers things about himself, and his past.

Chapter One: The Figure

My name is Dante. I am a fifteen-year-old boy, my birthday is in August, and my favorite color is blue.

From the outside I'm your typical, average teenager. But underneath my calm disposition, a storm rages, recedes, and clashes again in a whirlwind of destruction.

I'm not your normal teenager because of my past. My past which still haunts me to this day, despite my attempts to leave it all behind.

My past is the reason I'm telling you this story.

It was a normal day in September. Warm with a touch of Autumn in the air. Anxious sighs of students who wanted nothing else than to get out of school occasionally broke the steady flow of words.

The teacher's eyes looked up. Cold and emotionless, they swept the room in typical fashion, and returned to the glossy pages of a magazine on the desk. As if this occasional glance could justify his job, the teacher returned to his reading.

I wasn't doing anything out of the ordinary, just talking to some friends and glancing at the clock every few seconds. Time seemed to be slowing down.

Tick. Tick. Tick.

The late Summer heat was making me drowsy, my eyes were drooping, and those figures of my nightmare were beginning to cloud my mind. It was then that I heard that glorious sound.

My eyes snapped open when the bell rang and I grabbed my bag, which had been packed for a half-hour now, and shuffled out of the room.

Normally, I would hang out with my friends after school on a Friday, but today was different. I felt distanced and alone once again. This was not the first time I have felt this way. I often feel worlds away from my peers. They usually shrug it off as teenager angst.

I decided to walk home instead of taking the train. I couldn't stand to be in a hot, metal box. Everyone's thoughts and feelings pressing in on me probably would have made me spontaneously combust, and I wasn't in the mood for that.

I took the short way home, through the small wooded park that arced towards my house. I had been too distracted with my own thoughts to notice where I was going. I looked up to see the ground stretch ahead of me. Shadows crept over the ground, warning me of danger to come.

I took a step back, turned and began walking back the way I came, knowing that if I retraced my steps, I would find my way back to the path.

If I had known how wrong I was, I would have run faster.

When I couldn't find my way back to the path, I decided to call my friend who often walked through this park on her way to my house. She knew this area like the back of her hand.

I removed my cell phone from my pocket; its sleek, silver exterior was cool to the touch, even though it had been in my pocket all day.

I flipped it open and the familiar screen pulsated at me. No signal. There should have been a strong signal, since I was in the open.

I began to panic, wondering where I was and how I was supposed to get out when it happened.

A strange sound cut through the air, and cold breath seeped into my lungs. It was then that I noticed how silent it was. No birds, cars, no anything at all.

Then it came. From nowhere it appeared as if it had stepped out of my nightmare.

Tall and clad in a black, hooded cloak, it seemed to float towards me. Sunlight shrank away from it, afraid of being trapped in its black void. The evil aura surrounding the figure pushed its way into my lungs, my heart, my soul.

It stopped.

Slowly, the hood was lifted, but the head remained down. Then, as if in a trance, it raised its head and the eyes snapped open.

Those eyes.

I knew those eyes, for they were my own.

There was no emotion in those eyes, and I was drowning in the pupils. Darkness crept into the edge of my mind, and as I struggled to breathe, I connected with something inside of myself.

I stopped struggling and grabbed for that small seed of hope within me, it grew as I got closer to it. Finally, I grasped it and my mind was free of the darkness.

I struck out with that force. The figure seemed to fade at the edges, dimmed by the white aura surrounding me. I was not so fortunate. The figure struck back, wrapping its darkness around me, but I was too strong.

I fought back, resisting the urge to give up. Those eyes were tempting me to sleep, but I would not. I would win, because I had to.

My strength was slipping, being pulled in by the figure. Gathering its energy, the form made one last strike, driving its evil through me before it disappeared. Vanished back into the world of nightmares.

Darkness stole the light from my eyes and stretched across the sky in an endless night. I lay still on the floor of the woods, my breathing was shallow and I did not move.

Darkness crept into the woods, and I lay, forgotten.

Every moment was as long as a man's life. Mist crept over my body, shrouding me in a living cloak. The sun did not rise to wake me, and I spiraled through time, unable to escape the black void of despair.

I was unsure of where I had left my body, but after falling so far, I landed back in it.

I sat bolt upright and choked for air, my lungs weren't working and I could hear my heart slowing. I clawed at my throat and air came rushing into my body. But air was not the only thing that came back. The pain shot through my entire being, as if an explosive force was trying to escape my vessel.

I had no strength left to fight off unconsciousness, and as I slid back into that dark place, before my eyesight faded, I saw someone above me, haloed by the moon and stars.

And then I was gone.