TWO
The room that Neville and Josie entered was unlike any other she had seen. There were shelves that reached up to the unbelievably high ceiling, made of some gloomy dark material that Josephine couldn't place. They rised out over the pair, almost hanging over them. There were blue-flamed torches, just like in the circular room, which were placed every two metres or so along the shelves. The most intriguing thing about the room, however, was what sat on the shelves. Glowing metal time turners of all sizes were displayed along every surface, which made for almost no shadows in the room. Josie heard Neville whistle softly beside her, and she smiled at the spectacle.
They started walking along one of the aisles, necks craned to look at all the inscriptions on the time turners. The aisle they walked along was coded "C", and Josie saw that every time turner had a number. They followed the lines of the shelves and she saw numbers ranging from 302 to 945. This definitely was the Department of Mysteries. They had travelled for about two minutes when Josie decided this was enough investigation and turned to suggest to Neville that they met the others back in the circular room.
However, when she turned around, Neville was nowhere to be seen. She was tempted to call out, but remembered what Harry had said about being as quiet as possible. She ran quickly back along the aisles, but didn't see him.
"Neville!" She allowed herself. "Longbottom, you arse, get back here!" She whispered loudly down all the junctions between shelves. She was starting to panic, and ran down one of the other rows, telling herself that nothing had happened to him, that he had just wandered off. She turned a sharp corner and ran into something solid. She fell backwards, her wand skidding off down the smooth tiled floor. Josephine tried to gasp air back into her lungs as she propped herself up on her elbows. She looked up and saw a shadowy figure standing over her.
"Malfoy?" She exclaimed breathlessly, sitting up. Her heart thudded against her chest. Draco Malfoy stood tall before her, his wand pointing defiantly toward her chest. She quickly got up and stepped back. His face was twisted, his eyes dull. Josie didn't know what he was seeing, but it wasn't her.
"You don't have to do this," Her voice came out softer and more feeble than she had hoped. She didn't know what he was capable of, and didn't want to find out.
"Yes, I do," His voice was so soft she had to strain to hear it. "I do." He was sad, desperate. He looked like he was on the brink of breaking down. His hair was disheveled, not slicked back like Josie was used to seeing, and he looked like he had been wearing the same robes for a week. He kept glaring at her, his wand still pointed, not moving from his original spot. Josephine took this opportunity to slowly pace back to try and grab her wand.
"No!" He cried out in a strangled voice. There was a flash of light past her eyes as he cast a wordless spell to skid the wand further away from her. There were footsteps. She heard them coming closer. "Neville!", Josephine shouted, no longer caring whether anyone heard. "Neville, I'm over here!" She bellowed, her eyes not straying from their stare into Draco's.
"Draco, darling! Where are you? Stop playing with your food!" She heard the cruel, shrill call of a voice she recognized. Bellatrix Black. Those were the footsteps. Not Neville. She was alone.
"Don't do this!" Josie told him in a last attempt. Suddenly he whipped his wand arm back. She thought that this was it, that he was going to kill her. She shielded her eyes, but instead of the shouted curse, the flash of green light she was expecting, there was a crash at her feet. She looked down to see shards of glass scattered on the floor, the small evidence of a vial of potion being smashed there. The potion itself was dark purple, oozing out from the splatter in the middle at the consistency of maple syrup… It was smoking, and time slowed. Josephine heard the footsteps coming closer, and she felt lightheaded.
Draco looked at her with his haunted eyes, and the smoke whirled around her brain as she inhaled it. She felt herself tipping, her feet stumbling, and her shoulder hitting the ground with a thump. She did not feel any pain, but she knew it was there. Josie saw Draco's shiny black shoes walk towards her, and his knee close to her face as he knelt down. She was in and out of consciousness as he put something around her neck, something cold and heavy. The footsteps were coming closer, except now they were louder, reverberating in Josie's brain like the heavy thump of some sick rock music. Her senses were heightened, and she closed her eyes. There was a cranking noise similar to a grasshopper's song as it's rhythm looped once… twice… Her mind went foggy and suddenly she heard nothing more.