The Ravenclaw team eventually catches up towards the Gryffindors in points on the scoreboard after a few minutes of close calls from both teams. Instantly the crowd simmers down and watches the two people high up in the air fight over the Snitch as the blinding snow begins to fall heavier than ever. My breath is heavy against the cold wind while the clouds surrounding the Pitch continue to get darker by the minute, my eyes quickly break away from the two people chasing after the tiny ball towards where the Professors all sit, casually spotting Dumbledore with a terrified expression lingering on his face followed by the rest of them.
"I'm not liking this..." Niya murmurs quietly, trying to make sure that she isn't overheard by Draco as his eyes seem to be plastered on the match. I silently agree with her, an eerie feeling suddenly washes me as the colors rise above the people in the bleachers; illuminating the dark grey sky with bright colors such as blue, orange, yellow, and a few greens here and there. I know not everyone here can see the amazingcolor show that I can see, but right now I find it more important than the match; considering I've neverwitnessed a hue like this before.
I've never really understood what this whole color thing was, let alone what significance it has... I haven't witnessed anything like this when everybody else is clumped together so I really don't know what's going on right now.
The two teams whiz around in the open field, a few Ravenclaws get a little too close to the bleachers with a couple Gryffindors right on their tail; up above I notice the clouds growing exceptionally darker by the second, followed by the small glinting golden ball that dashes through the wind currents while Harry struggles to grasp it before the other seeker does. Then, just out of nowhere; a brilliant strike of lightning flashes across the sky with a loud, deafening pulse that shatters the stadium and silences everybody sitting in the crowd. Instantly my eyes shoot towards Snape, who seems to be baffled as well by the sudden explosion, then my eyes casually graze over the terrified students in the bleachers and on the field. The Ravenclaw who was chasing the Snitch right behind Harry lets go of their broomstick and instantly begins to fall towards the ground below at an alarming rate; clearly unconscious and smouldering from the sudden strike.
My eyes widen fearfully, witnessing the devastating act as the Professors down below slightly panic; with a few of them rushing towards one of the entrances to help I'm assuming. Panicked shrieks can be heard across the stand, while the twins instantly whip around and gaze down below; changing gears and soaring after the unconscious player plummeting towards the ground while everybody else is in full panic mode.
My heart stops instantly, lightning doesn't work like that, how come only one flash lit up the sky without any other ones to accompany it? My eyes stay glued towards the twins as they both reach out at the same time and hook their arms around the player, hauling them down towards the ground where Professor Flitwick emerges from down below with the school's nurse on hand and a few other Professors as well.
Draco shifts his confused attention towards me, baffled at what he just witnessed as he's clearly still in shock and having some hard time forming words with his mouth.
"That never happened before-" Draco was cut off from Snape slowly approaching the both of us from a few spots down, and shooting him a look that instantly shuts him up with no context behind it whatsoever. Draco silently nods, standing up and avoiding my eye contact as he hurries along the cluster of students trying to leave. Snape's dark eyes then linger over towards me, emitting a strong sensation that my instincts warn me about; while grabbing my arm and hauling me up off of the bleachers without any words being spoken and dragging me along towards one of the exits.
Everything's going by so fast, the blinding flurries of snow start to sting whatever skin I have out in the open, Niya quietly goes along with this sudden change of plans, clinging to my robe with her claws and staying wrapped inside my scarf. A thousand questions race through my mind as to why his first instinct was to grab me and leave; maybe what he said istrue about being safer around him than anyone else.
"What the Hell, what's going on-" I stammer profusely, caught off guard and unable to function properly under this dire circumstance as he continues to pull me along through the crowd.
"We need to leave, now." He hushes, alarmingly his aura seems to sear through the block he has and radiates a fearful emotion, keeping his eyes peeled as we both hurry along the steps while everybody else begins to panic suddenly. This seriously can't be happening right now, what about the twins in the stadium; and everyone else that's trapped down there? I really don't know what's going on, would I even be able to help create a distraction if need be?
Through the dark sky, a few more lightning strikes emerge, followed by sketchy looking dark figures with a wispy-like appearance that begins to soar around the open sky, causing the students to freak out even more during this event along with the Professors.
The dark figures remind me of the masked ones by the train platform, creating a wave of anger forming deep down inside of me after leaving me with memories I'll never forget. Niya tenses up a bit, she must feel the anger pretty well since she's pressed up against my neck as far as she can.
I don't even bother arguing with him right now, clearly he knows what's up and I don't; especially right now. We continue our way down one of the wooden steps towards the solid ground in complete silence when he abruptly stops and turns around to face me with a cold stare lingering his eyes over the scenery, before speaking.
"You need to hide, stay behind me and quickly keep up." No context again whatsoever, just the standard 'I'm the hero, follow me' bullshit he's been throwing at me lately. I sigh deeply, knowing that I can't really argue with him anymore due to the circumstances. But if push comes to shove; I do have my wand on me and the anger's still boiling down inside.
Niya's claws dig into my House robe tightly, nearly piercing my skin as the both of us race towards the school across the open field; desperate to get to a safe place. Students from all around begin to also do the same, seeking refugee inside of the castle while several of the Professors take out their wands and begin to cast spells against the wispy figures in the sky.
Colorful strikes of wizard spells I've never witnessed before fly back and forth around the sky, I don't really know any cool tricks besides blasting things with fire; it gets the job done and my point across, but I don't get why my power is furled on emotions alone. A few of them smash right into the stadium, causing a few pillars to splinter under the pressure and collapse; creating a slight swell in my heart for the twins, knowing that they're around there and the fear of the unknown is lurking inside; adding more fuel to the burning fire.
Snape's hue triggers an insane amount of dedication, mixed with a bit of fear, and knowing what's about to happen next. For a quiet man he sure knows how to predict events; either that or his timing is scarily accurate.
As soon as we reach one of the entrances towards the Gardens, a massive lightning bolt strikes the ground just a few feet behind us, melting the snow and sketches a detailed design into the grass below our feet in a very wide radius. I feel Snape's hand let go of my arm and slip inside of his pocket, pulling out his only means of defense I assume as the smoke clears from the explosive force and out rises one of the dark figures from the train station a couple months ago; wearing a detailed mask almost identical to the one that threw me off of the cliff. Once again, increasing the building rage that's stored inside me.
"Ah, Severus; what a wonderful surprise." A luscious voice emits from behind the dressup, the dark figure slowly approaches the two of us, while Snape pushes me aside; stepping in front of the hooded figure and putting some distance between me and him without backing down. His eyes lower intensely at the man with a burning passion, piercing his cold ones like daggers.
"There's nothing else left, you've accomplished your doings now leave before I force you out." He sternly replies with his stone faced complexion. The mysterious man laughs for a good little while, hesitating on whether or not he should reveal himself. He slowly pulls off his detailed mask and revealing the same man that was walking beside Draco at the train station; covered head to toe in darker than black robes that linger a ghostly essence while his long thin, blonde hair falls over his shoulders with a sly grin spread across his perfect face.
I know right away who he is, the images from him gazing at us across the platform before my mother met her demise. I'm a bit not surprised that Draco's related to him, it's just the feeling he emits lately matches this man's completely. All though I don't know his name, I really don't think it's important enough to ask. The snowfall suddenly stops, leaving a few deep patches of snow around the ground as the man slowly moves in closer, peering around Snape's sudden protective stance to get a better look at me.
"Didn't you tell her already, even Potter knew about his past." The man taunts, shifting his cold blue eyes towards me while slightly biting his lower lip in a not-so appropriate manner I take it. Niya hisses instantly from under my scarf, debating on whether or not she should pounce on him as Snape tenses up completely. The anger of just knowing that this man was a part of her death pushes me towards the edge, the boiling rage that festers below suddenly begins to surface with a strong amount of force powering along behind it.
"Why don't you just leave us alone, huh? I'm not afraid of you." I shot back after being so timid and confused on what's going on; I finally find my voice. Snape's hue instantly disappears and I feel his body growing tenser by the second while I push past him and basically reverse the roles.
"Nala don't." He protests calmly, hovering his free hand over my shoulder debating on whether or not to place it down in an attempt to control my temper. I hold my wand out pointing directly towards the creepy guy with beautiful hair, not holding back anymore since I just know he was one of them; the ones who had killed her on the platform.
"I see, I see. Already grew attached, Severus? Tsk, tsk, you know he'll be angry, but she is pretty feisty; I don't blame you for falling in love." He taunts once more, even though the taunts are towards Professor Dumbass over here, I can't help but feel like they're also meant for me; in a way that they both know something that I don't.
A confused feeling washes over me and causes me to hesitate, what the Helldoes he mean by 'in love?' Certainly Pouty Pants doesn't feel thatmuch in the slightest, never mind the fact that he's twice my damn age. What the fuck is this guy going on about, clearly it's more taunts he's throwing at us; and I'll be damned, it's working.
The man's smug grin grows larger by the second, noticing that Snape refuses to say or do much for who knows what reason. They must know each other considering he knows his name. Without thinking I let my anger get the best of me, I flick my wrist instantly, a loud sparking sound can be heard followed by a large trail of flames bursting from the tip of my wand, circling the man who now changes his tone from a mocking one, into slight fear. The flames illuminate around him in a circle while my raging emotions cause them to soar higher and lock him in place; it's kind of scary how my best performance requires a bit of anger.
Snape stands back in awe; he hasn't seen anything like this in a long time I take it, considering he's still in shock standing behind me while the blonde man nearly sinks into the ground from sheer fright. The overwhelming power coursing through my body causes a slight power trip as I've never experienced such strength like this before. Even back in his classroom I wasn't nearly this strong when he mentioned my mother's name; maybe I shouldn't bottle up my anger anymore...
Dumbfounded, the both of them can't help but stare at the mess I've created, instantly the blonde haired man takes to the sky without saying another word, covered in a dark wispy essence and vanishes from sight, leaving the two of us here to deal with the massive flames before us that my anger had conjured up.
The bitter anger finally subdues while Snape silently whisks his wand towards the flames in an attempt to control them enough so that they would smolder down into embers and letting the reemerging snowfall take care of the rest. I can feel his mind surging with questions, ranging from my bold attitude, and then to my tempter issues that linger around. He slowly faces towards me while the rest of the dark figures take to the sky and screw off somewhere else. His eyes try to hold mine as he approaches me carefully while pocketing his wand in the process.
"I have never in my life met someone as bold as you are; I have yet discovered if that is a good thing or a bad thing. However, judging based on how you made Lucius flee with his tail between his legs..." He trails off of his sentence, catching eyes with Niya who's buried underneath my hair and scarf as he heads towards the massive door, swinging it open and waiting for me to hurry along. I guess his name would be revealed to me after all; so he really Is Draco's father...
He has a point, I don't know if this'll be a good thing or a bad thing. I've always had a temper problem; but it was never this bad I swear. Just recently it's been building up, and it's probably due to my mother being killed and the fact that I have nowhere to go for school breaks and the summer.
"Thanks- I guess..? Do you think the party's still going to happen after this surprise?" I graze past him gently as he follows along beside me down the hall, the large door creaks to a slow shut but none the less catches the latch and closes tightly behind the two of us. The flames on the nearby candle holders flicker wildly as we pass by them and simmer down after they leave my presence; I guess even when I feel fine mentally I'm still angry.
Niya leaps from her comfy spot, her little claws click against the tiles as she collides with them. Her tail flickers a tiny bit before pattering along down the hall just lingering a couple feet ahead of us while easily being sidetracked at every little thing that scurries across the shiny floor.
"That I do not know, it wouldn't surprise me if Dumbledore confined it to a smaller area instead of the Great Hall." He ponders a bit, curious himself as to what's going to happen later on today since our small finals game was rudely interrupted.
I can't really feel my heart as well as I could before, probably from the adrenaline rush that happened earlier; that and my mind's still racing about the whole flame conjuring thing... I've never been able to produce such high quality magic; especially with fire.
I can't help but shake that odd feeling, especially after what Lucius said earlier as well, surely hecan't be 'in love' with me as well, it's insane to even cross that line but he went over it so casually, and the way Snape reacted about it was so timidly and almost terrified even, you can't be serious; he doesn't even knowme let alone he's literally twice my age for fuck's sake.
We scrape past a handful of students who now begin to cluster around the halls from different Houses, not real long knowing where to go, either that or they're just talking about the bizarre event that just happened. each of them give us weird glances here and there while we casually make our way past them without speaking any words between us, or them for that matter. I can hear their hushed voices after we leave their presence, oh boy;the rumors begin and I don't even like this guy enough to consider him a friend; he changed a lot that's for sure but he's still a dumbass.
"Why don't you head off towards your dorm, I'm sure Draco will show up to greet you once we've decided on what to do." The second we round one of the corners towards a small, narrow staircase, that heads downstairs towards the Slytherin Common room comes into view. I can tell he doesn't want to leave my side per say, but he knows he'll have to converse with the others later on in the hour.
Yeah and then ask him why his father tried to kill me just now? That's a greaticebreaker. But it's a good idea, since I know if he doesn't approach my dorm the twins will if they aren't injured.
I silently nod my head, not really having anymore words left to say so to speak. I have too many things going through my mind to even process right now. He begins to descend down the steps before I do, I quickly follow his movements as we approach the massive hidden door to our Slytherin area; clearly he doesn't want to leave me alone after that encounter we had.
"I'll be seeing you, Miss Lamia. Farewell." His lips twitch into a smirk while Niya rolls her eyes smugly at me, pushing past me and entering the dimly lit room as the Professor begins to walk back towards the staircase and disappears from my presence with a lingering color so different from the rest that I can't help but be intrigued.
"Oooh, 'Miss Lamia' that's a new one." Niya snickers, jumping out of the way as my foot automatically tries to kick her in the rear. She bolts up the step and watches me from afar, as I quickly make my way towards the fireplace so I can rest a bit and take some time to process what just happened.
"Shut it, cat; you're not even supposed to be talking anyways." I toss my shoulder bag and scarf over the edge of one of the couches down by the fireplace, kicking my shoes off and sitting down close to the warm, toasty fire that's already been lit in the fireplace. Niya eventually steps closer to me while snickering to herself, she jumps up on the couch cushion beside me and sits directly in my line of sight.
"About what happened today, you know... The whole Lucius, and the fire trap thing you pulled? You really need to get it under control of you'll end up killing someone." Her calm voice hints a bit of seriousness in it for once; instead of the usual sly remarks and constant pestering. She does have a point, I don't even know how my emotions affect the way my magic works. I still can't even think about it without getting slightly agitated.
The warm fire unfreezes my skin from the bitter cold weather outside, the flames leap high in the fireplace as the ancient bricks sizzle and crack along with the sparks surrounded by metal bars. The room is darkly lit as is the rest of the castle as the flickering light casts shadows of all of the objects across the ancient walls.
"I know." I pull my knees up closer to my face on the couch while wrapping my arms tightly around them staring deeply inside of the fire, letting my mind wander to wherever it wants to go; it bounces back and forth between the incident on the platform, to how Lucius used the words 'in love' while addressing Snape and I at the same time. That one I seriously hope isn't true, I know he was taunting us; him in particular but if that one specifically is true; then we have a problem.
Niya places her paw on my foot, brushing her face against my legs while purring furiously. She then twists her body around one of my legs and jumps up on the front part of my skirt; curled up in a small furry ball with her eyes closed as she relaxes a bit in the empty Common room. Time slowly passes by while neither of us move, nobody else as far as I know shows up through the door so they must be doing other things right about now. I'm still worried about the twins, I haven't seen them at all yet and I'm scared that something terrible happened. I'm sure they'd come through my dorm room and find me here if that were the case; but so far not even the upstairs doors haven't been touched since before the finals.
A ghostly image appears casually sitting beside the piano, Naomi smiles brightly at me from behind as she happily makes her way over to us, leaping over the other part of the couch and sitting down with her feet crossed on the cushion.
"Hey Nala, I saw what happened and tried to contact you but Severus wouldn't go away; is everything alright?" She cautiously asks, her dead-like eyes pierce mine with a sense of respect and sincere regret as she witnessed the onslaught of the masked figures invading our game.
My eyes glaze over, remembering the incident with every detail imaginable as the last image I had of the twins were them diving down to save the Ravenclaw seeker.
"The twins haven't shown up yet, all though Draco's dad tried to stop us from entering the castle..." My words trail off as her eyes widen a bit in shock, she then takes in a deep breath and sighs a little bit; uncrossing her legs and standing up from the couch.
My eyes curiously cross hers while she hesitates for a very long time, eventually she clasps her hands together and holds my gaze with a serious, and terrified reflection.
"Lucius, he was a bit of a character back in his days as far as I remember. He always hung around Severus and your mother; and since I only appeared in front of her and not them, they have no idea how much I know about the both of them." Her eyes dart around for a bit, making sure that nobody else had entered the room.
"Really, that explains how he knew Snape's name and vice versa." My eyes linger around as well, since an uneasy feeling can be felt around the three of us. Niya shifts around, wide awake and sulking a bit; probably because Naomi's going to tell me what happened after it being kept from me for so long.
"He loved Tabitha, he was so hellbent on getting her to notice him with his wealthy parents; but then she disappeared for the remainder of the year. I take it nobody told you where exactly she went, so I'll tell you since it was my fault." Her eyes instantly drop down to her feet, still a bit shaken by the events I presume. The flames in the fireplace flicker wildly as Naomi speaks; lightning up the room a bit more than it did before when it was just the two of us in here. You can almost clearly see the Slytherin banners strung around the place, and the detailed paintings who actually don't move at all and aren't charmed like the others as well as the crumbling ancient steps that lead towards the two doors that represent each dorm room in this section.
"I found a time turner in one of the abandoned rooms up near the Ravenclaw tower one day, and something was clearly wrong with it; I don't know what, but it was just messed up and had a dark presence surrounding it. So I gave it to her to use it since I'm dead; I'm really sorry Nala…" She couldn't even finish her sentence without gathering herself and holding back a few tears. Confused I just stare at her, wondering how or why she is sorry all of a sudden.
"It's alright Naomi, I'm sure it wasn't that bad." I soothe her, well, trying to anyways. She gathers herself once again and slowly shakes her head.
"You don't even know…" Her voice trembles under the tears while Niya silently doesn't move at all, knowing exactly what Naomi's talking about. The room's still quiet, a few dripping noises can be heard above but to be fair we are underneath a lake right now; which isn't really safe.
"I never told you how I died, and it ties in with this story." Instantly my mouth shuts, she holds my gaze for a few more seconds before continuing on.
"She tried setting the date for it, but it was stuck back to twenty years in the past; so she used it anyways and ended up still in the same room, but with different people and older uniforms."
"There was a devious man in his seventh year, he was already feared by most and nobody wanted to be around him; he was broken in all of the wrong ways and was just negative towards everything. Tabitha found him, and they were inseparable after the first conversation."
Naomi pauses for a bit, glancing down towards Niya who just stares right back at her with her tail twitching furiously. A devious man, I remember Snape mentioning how she dwelled too much into dark magic and she did something she regretted; this must have been it.
"He was a powerful wizard, and certainly feared by Dumbledore himself who was still in charge of this school mind you, he would conjure up anything and everything and devour whatever got in his way; he was sadistic and crazy and she loved him for the sheer fact that she thought she could fix him." Her words tremble once again as she continues on with the story, the flames seem to simmer down enough so that I can really only see her close up and everything else appears to be pitch black. My heart feels like it's about to burst, I'm finally starting to get somewhere with my past; after all those years of wondering what happened. Naomi's aura shifts instantly into a huge, smoldering-like dark color, reflecting back as a guilt and regret while she tries her best to keep her focus on the story.
"I was a Hufflepuff during this time, I noticed her but not for the same reason that she recognized me for; she was shocked to see me alive, and told me how she knew me and I went silent. I was terrified, I was going to die young and neither of us knew how; until he decided to try something completely inhumane…" She trails off a little, gazing down at her old uniform and placing a hand against her chest; watching it go through her clothes and skin as she silently pulls it back out. Even though what she did back in the building caused me to feel and touch spirits, she can't really feel anything for herself.
"He made sure to do it fast, as he was looking into a way to take over the world with an iron fist. I was subjected to various torture methods all for his little study session with biology and how he could dominate the minds of the Muggles. Eventually it led to my death, and he did something unforgivable; he tried to bring me back to life."
My eyes widen in shock, I've heard about the whole zombie apocalypse scenario back in my old school; Hell, all of us had plans to survive that thing for crying out loud. I always knew it'd be possible to create a zombie, I just didn't know how and judging by the way this story is going; I think this guy created one with Naomi.
She trembles again, reliving a bitter past that probably had her left feeling scared and isolated for that matter. She regains control of her tears once more and powers on through the story as the flames continue to keep burning in the background.
"I felt it, I felt my body decomposing, and rotting away along with a god awful stench I was stuck with; I couldn't even speak it was just gurgled noises and he was fascinated even more. I didn't last long in my decaying form; Tabitha found me and took my life after witnessing the abomination he had created with a living being." Niya stares intensely at her with a forgiving look of compassion, I guess even she didn't know the full story on what happened. I can't really believe what I'm hearing, even though I have living proof in front of me, everything seems so surreal in this place; I don't even know why I'm here.
"She tried so hard to get to him, to make him a better person and to fix what he had become; but it was too late for him, and it was too late for the both of you…" She trails off her sentence once again, this time the tears just pour from her eyes and disappear on the floor while she tries so hard to pull herself together.
"It's alright, I promise" I hop to my feet instantly, setting Niya down on the spot I was just sitting in and walk towards the crying girl, wrapping my arms around her tightly and holding her close as she silently sobs against my shoulder and releases a cool breeze of air surrounding her form.
"She did everything to make him feel loved; and I do mean everything. She got the time turner set to the proper date from one of the old Ravenclaw Professors back then and she was later back in her own time period almost a year later; carrying a set of twins inside her."
My jaw slightly drops, I kind of know the rest from here, considering Sennith's now dead, and my life was spent locked up indoors for the remainder of my days. I pull slightly away from her a bit as she tries her best to hold my gaze and forcing out a faint smile; reliving the memory.
"We didn't know there were two of you, she only talked about the boy; and that caused Lucius to get furious every second she mentioned it. Severus was beyond happy for her, all though she wasn't happy with herself for what she did. She knew he was still out there, and she dreaded the information leaking out to him about his children; we all did…" She powers through the emotional part of reliving everything, also checking around to make sure we're still alone.
"Eventually he found out, a couple years after you both were born she managed to hide you I'm assuming since even I didn't know about you at the time, and he sent out a few of his followers to 'take care' of the accident. I'm so sorry Nala, I didn't want to be the one to tell you this…" She collapses into another fit of tears, showing her dedication to my mother through all of this as she silently sobs away again for a few more minutes as the two of us stand on one of the ancient rugs in front of the fireplace that illuminates our shadows against the crumbling walls.
"Your father was a Slytherin. And his name; was Tom Riddle."