Second chapter today!

Ellie stumbled, hardly able to catch her breath. She didn't wince as she fell, because her legs were so numb it didn't matter. She didn't notice the blood trickling from her knee and hand when she stood up. She had one purpose, and she was going to fulfill it. She ran onwards, up the steep, muddy hill, away from the lights of the village. She was crying by now, but the drenching rain made it impossible to tell her tears from the drops. She was almost there.

She threw herself against the iron gates, watching with relief as they swung open. She fell, face down, into the mud around the base of the gate. She staggered upright, hardly able to keep walking. The urge to get away had long since faded, and she knew she was going to be safe.

She continued on, fighting fatigue and hysteria at her situation. She fell several more times, managing to scratch her face and clothes. She finally made it up the gravel path, tripping over her own feet.

She fell, finally, against the massive wooden doors. She lay on the slippery marble steps as rain continued to soak her mud-stained blond curls, staring at the door she didn't have the strength to reach.

She saw a light swing over her head, heard a vaguely familiar voice, and then, she saw and heard no more.

Al sighed. It had been almost a week since Ellie had left with her brother. He was bored without his best friend. Scor and Rose were always too busy with prefect duties to meet him in the library in the evenings, and neither would help him with his homework. He wished Ellie could have stayed. He sighed again, telling himself that that was selfish, that she was better off with her brother, and that she would be back.

He rubbed a hand across his eyes. Her face flashed in front of him. He remembered the last time they had been in the library together, the night before the writing on the Great Hall's doors. He remembered her blushing, and wondered, idly, what she could have been embarrassed about. She had looked very pretty that day. Wait, what was he thinking? Ellie was his best friend, she wasn't supposed to be pretty. Or beautiful. And yet, he realized that she was both.

Al was running along a corridor, running from some sort of demon behind him. Ellie was holding his hand, leading him through a virtual maze of rooms, tears streaming down her face, begging him not to turn around. They ran into a room that had no other door. There was a portrait of a woman hanging over the fireplace. Ellie, but with light green eyes. The lock behind them clicked. Both spun around to face a shadowy man. Ellie was screaming when suddenly, green light filled the room. He was Ellie, suspended for an instant, her eyes wide with horror. But they weren't her eyes. They were the eyes of the woman in the portrait. Then she fell to the floor.

Al woke up with a start, covered in sweat, and tangled up in his blankets. It was very early morning, so he decided not to go back to sleep. He thought about his dream, wondering what he could have been thinking about to make him dream something like that.

As he dressed, the dream was put to the back of his mind. He walked slowly down the stairs, not bothering to take his bag with him yet. He wandered aimlessly, because it was not yet time for breakfast.

He found himself outside the Hospital Wing. He was surprised to hear voices coming from under the door. He was even more surprised when he recognized one of them as his father's.

Al had stopped outside the door, ear pressed to the wood. "-found her on the castle steps." His father was saying.

"And no indication of how or why she was there?" That was McGonagall.

"None." Aunt Mione.

Their voices dropped even lower. All Al could catch were snippets. "-think it was an attack? –wouldn't be- how did she- about her brother? –a thing. –confusing situation- never heard of- happened here! – unprecedented- investigation-Shh!" The last sound was definitely his father. He heard footsteps on the other side of the door, so he sprang back.

The door swung open, revealing his father. He looked older than Al had ever seen him. His normally bright green eyes had dulled, his face seemed to hold more lines, and he was a little stooped. "Al." he said. He didn't seem angry, only sad. "What's wrong?" asked Al. His father sighed and ran a hand through his hair.

"This is not the way I wanted you to find out."

Al entered the Hospital Wing warily. He knew something was seriously wrong. He saw many people he knew, both professors and others. But all this faded into the background when he saw her.

She was lying on the hospital bed, half curled as if trying to protect herself, bruised and scratched and even bandaged in some places. Her normally neat curls were a mess, tangled all down her back. She seemed to be in a heavy sleep. He crossed the room, hardly able to walk straight, to stand at her bedside. He reached out to touch her hand, but she recoiled. She sniffled, and a tear ran down her cheek. Her bottom lip was slightly swollen, and a light bruise dusted her cheekbone. Al swallowed, his mind swirling with thoughts.

She shifted, and the blanket slipped off her right shoulder. Al fought back a sob. Black against her pale skin, looking as though it had been engraved there, was a circular symbol.

It was a perfect circle, crossed with lines to make a five-point star. Each of the points was emphasized by a black dot. At the center of the star, there were two overlapping runes. He didn't recognize them until he tilted his head. He gasped, because when you looked at the symbol from the right angle, the runes became an N and an R. Al backpedaled, half tripping. He fell to the floor with a crash, his head reeling.

"Al?" It was a soft, familiar voice, but tinged with a rough edge, as though she had been screaming. Al looked up at Ellie, her dark eyes staring at him. For the first time, he noticed glints of green in the deep blue. This only reminded him sickeningly of his dream. "Where am I?" the voice spoke again, faintly colored with fear. Al stared into her wide, slightly vacant eyes, and felt that he was going to be sick.

I admit it. I want reviews. :)