Hey everyone! Guess who's finally moved into their first apartment? (Spins in imaginary swivel chair) MEEEEE~ Ahh i'm so happy I got everything all settled in. In the meantime right now I'm applying for a position at Sephora as a part time job. I need money (I really just want free make-up). Also third year of college here I come! I'm really excited for taking children's book illustration. Thanks for waiting so long for this update, remember to leave a comment because you guys are the drive that keeps me going!
To all of you beginning school soon, good luck!
The small echoing noise of two feet filled the hallways followed by the heavy breathing of a young woman. Juliet was in a rush to find Tom and had no time to stop much less rethink her pretty useless strategy. All of her senses were heightened, any small noise made her jump and any shadow made her think something was following her. The Witch had her wand out ready for any kind of attack while over and over in her head repeated the spells she knew and mastered from Defense Against the Dark Arts.
"God fucking dammit, why now?" She hissed under her breath.
She knew doing this was too risky, the Gryffindor knew Robin wasn't being an overprotective hen and that this really was dangerous, in fact doing this was down right deadly. She wasn't an idiot but she knew she had no choice in the matter. She knew if Chekov and Robin found Tom it would be a dead giveaway as to what happened between the two of them.
A low rumbling noise echoed in the hallway making the Gryffindor' skin crawl.
On second thought, compared to a rampaging killer, the two wizards finding out what happened didn't seem like such a bad idea after all.
Juliet ran away from the echoing noise with all her might, she had to focus now, there was no turning back.
"Find Tom, help Hanz, find Tom, help Hanz-" The witch repeated the plan as if it was all that simple.
Suddenly Juliet spotted in the corner of her eye the Gray Lady about to come her way. Juliet proceeded to freak out, cursing in her head again. She saw a bench and quite literally ducked underneath it to avoid being seen. Thank god she was so small or else this wouldn't have worked, her body just managed to fit under it in time as the beautiful ghost turned to the hallway. The little witch waited patiently for a few minutes, not moving an inch, or even breathing for that matter. It was a bad habit of hers when she played hide and seek as a child. She always had a tendency to hold her breath, thinking illogically someone would find her by knowing they could hear her breathe. Suddenly she saw from her angle the floating robes of the Gray Lady's skirt going by her without even a second thought. Juliet almost breathed a sign of relief but she didn't want to be caught so she kept her trap shut.
She watched the gray lady disappear by going through the wall at the other end of the hallways. When she knew the coast was clear she emerged from her hiding spot and dusted off her robes. She pulled her wand out once again and proceeded to go in the direction she hoped would eventually lead her to Tom.
As she continued on her walk it became apparent that she was now going down the hallway that would lead her to the Slytherin common room.
Suddenly Juliet felt a lightbulb go off in her head.
Of course! He's probably in there. He must have been escorted inside like everyone else. Why didn't she think of that earlier?
She made a run for it, finally reaching the portrait of Alistair in no time.
"Psst, Alistair!" She whispered with urgency.
"Juliet?" asked the painting, clearly surprised at the sight of her presence.
"Ugh, thank god you're here." She breathed a sigh of relief.
"Pray tell where else would you think I would be little fool? The Bahamas?" He retorted. "Besides how are you out here, you should be in your common room." He glared.
"Tom, I need to find Tom. Is he in there?" She asked, keeping it short and to the point.
"Asking for Riddle again, why am I not surprised." The Painting sighed.
"Alistair this is serious!" She hissed.
"As am I. Young lady it's high time you start listening to your elders. There is a killer on the loose, he has murdered a young girl and is roaming the castle still for all we know. You need to go back to your common room and stay there. You're lucky I haven't called a teacher in on you yet." His voice replied in a serious tone.
"I-I can't… I need to protect something… someone important." She said with her eyes cast downwards.
The painting sighed again, motioning her to stay put as he left his station. Juliet paced while waiting, occasionally looking in either direction of the hallway to be sure she wouldn't be seen by a teacher or a ghost. Alistair finally emerged to his station, sitting back on his chair.
"I'm afraid he isn't here. A prefect informed me he volunteered to help with removing the girls body from the bathroom." He said to the petite witch.
"You're kidding."
"Afraid not." He replied grimly.
"Great, how am I going to get him now?" She complained openly. "If I go over here I'll be caught for sure!" The witch then made a frustrated noise and began to pace again.
"This is about the secret thing isn't it."
Juliet froze in place.
"Who told y-"
"Not important." Alistair interrupted.
"But-"
"If you continue down the hallway and reach the dead end there is a stone that is much darker in color than the rest. Push the stone and it will lead you to a secret passageway that will take you close to the girls bathroom. You'll end up at the bottom of the staircases on the second floor. That's all I can do for you for now." He whispered.
"How do you know that?" She asked, clearly surprised by this new-found information
"There are many passageways hidden in the school that have been supposedly sealed off but Godric and Salizar entrusted their locations to me in case of an emergency. Be warned though, the killer might know of some of these passageways as well. Be on your guard." Juliet nodded in affirmation, taking out her wand already.
Juliet turned her head back the staircases upon hearing two pairs of footsteps coming closer.
Teachers.
"Go, quick! I'll distract them." The painting hisses.
Juliet nodded once more as a 'thank you' and ran down the hallway away from the professors. As she moved farther and farther away she could hear Alistair speaking to the professors knowing it would make them stop in their tracks to talk. Slowly the voices faded away to nothing as she dashed forward to her destination. The destination was shrouded almost completely in darkness. There were no paintings or natural light, no windows or even torches to emit any illumination. Juliet whispered 'lumos' to make her wand glow at the tip, providing her with enough light to see but not enough for a teacher to notice anything flickering from afar.
"Dark stone, dark stone, dark stone." She repeated while squinting to observe every brick.
Much to her dismay they were all the same color.
"Come on Alistair, please tell me you weren't pulling my leg." She begged to herself. That painting better be right or so help her she would draw on him with permanent marker!
Juliet was now feeling each stone, trying to push one in to see if she could find it this method. Unfortunately this didn't work either, they were all intact, not one budged.
"That stupid painting, he tricked me!" She yelled to her self kicking the wall.
In a mater of a millisecond, Juliet felt the floor under her feet disappear followed by the sensation of falling. The witch's eyes widened as she noticed from the corner of her eye the stone she kicked oh so happened to be darker than the rest as she descended through the trap door completely.
"Son of a-" She yelled as the trap door magically turned back into the floor, leaving not a single bit of evidence of anyone ever being there.
Juliet screamed as she slid on this spiral passageway, not at all expecting the ride of her life. She gracefully was spat out of the 'slide' and into the secret passageway by falling butt first on the ground hard.
"Owwww!" She hissed, rubbing her sore behind. It was then that her wand that she dropped in the process of falling was also spat out and hit her on the head.
"MERLIN'S BEARD!" She yelled.
After cursing to herself and her horrible luck for a few minutes the witch was able to get up, taking note she sustained little injury other than scraping her knee. She picked up her wand and repeated Lumos once more to see where she was.
"Whoa…" She said breathlessly.
Juliet was astounded, never would she have thought passageways like this existed under the school. It was clearly ancient, probably centuries old. It was deep embedded rock that was carved out to be a giant cave like structure. It reminded her of being in gringots bank back in the early Autumn purchasing school supplies. The only thing she noticed that was off was some very large pipes that went across the ceiling, extending to the other side of the wall. Juliet deducted it was probably the schools plumbing. All that fresh water and bathroom waste had to lead somewhere.
She whistled, taking in the sight.
"Facinating." She said out loud to herself.
The passageway was simple with only one direction to go. Being in a cave and all though made her question whether or not she would get lost in the process trying to get out of here. For once Juliet was glad she did girl scouts back in America. She climbed to the beginning of the passageway and used her wand to make an etching of a stick figure.
The plan was simple, for every corner she turned she would make an etching of a stick figure. This way if she thought she was lost all she would have to do is look for the etching to lead her back. It was like Hansel and Gretel leaving bread crumbs except this was not edible.
She sighed, letting herself walk forward in the cave.
"Tom, you better be there." She murmured.
Annnnnnnnnd done! Hahaha cliffhanger, I bet you all hate me right now! I'm sorry don't leave, I love you guys ;A;
Anyway tell me what you all think of this chapter, I love to hear your idea's and what not.
Again hope you guys have a wonderful first day of school and a good year!