Back again!
Big thanks to all my wonderful reviewers! You all make this experience so much more enjoyable.
This chapter has no warnings really.
Also apologies for the fact that the Halloween chapter is coming when it's really close to Christmas in real life. If I had made a Halloween chapter during the right month, it would have required a sudden time skip that would have made no sense story wise.
If Someone Cared Enough
Chapter Thirty-Three: Hallowed Grounds
Severus was in the middle of eating lunch while reviewing his Charms notes when Simone sat down beside him.
"So," she began, plucking an assortment of fruits and cheeses from the middle of the table, "Looking forward to tonight?"
"As much as one can when dragged kicking and screaming," Severus drawled, taking a bite out of his quiche.
Simone peeled her grapes with a wave of her wand, "Oh come on, surely you're excited to spend some time with Lily." She plopped a grape into her mouth and relished the taste on her palette, "Some quality time, dancing at a party. Just the two of you…"
"It isn't a date, if that's what you are thinking," Severus corrected, "We're just friends. Besides, Mary's coming."
Simone tilted her head, "Slughorn invited her?"
"I did," Severus said.
"Well that's kind of you," Simone offered, "But not very bright. Now you're a third wheel. They say three's a crowd you know; even with friends."
"I take it Nesme isn't joining you and Thea then?" Severus asked.
Simone shook her head, "Davis invited her to some party the Ravenclaws cooked up in their dorm. So me and Thea will be a party of two this evening at Slughorn's event. Suits us just fine. But you, my friend, you may have blew your perfect chance for a little romance."
"Lily wanted to go with her best friend and that's what I shall be," Severus said stiffly, "Besides, I'd have to be some sort of apish Neanderthal to not respect her boundaries after all she's been through."
"I'm not saying you should throw yourself at her," Simone said gently, "I just meant that all this time she has seen you as the perfect friend for her in all this. Maybe it is time show her you're perfect for her as more than that. Some compliments, some sweet words. A slow dance where she can feel like the world consists of only the two of you."
"I'm not exactly the most suave, if you haven't noticed," Severus pointed out.
"Lily doesn't want Mr. Suave, though," Simone told him, "She wants Mr. Considerate, Mr. Intelligent…Mr. Right." She paused, "Did that sound cheesy? It sounded extra cheesy to me."
Severus snorted, "Call yourself a muggle pizza then, because that was so cheesy I can smell it."
Simone rolled her eyes, chucking a grape at him, "Listen, all I'm saying is the party is a good time to lay down some groundwork for an actual future with your lady love. Is it so hard to be honest with her?"
"When there's a good chance she may reject me and leave my heart in broken shambles on the ground?" Severus asked, "Yes. She doesn't feel that way about me."
"Maybe not yet, but she could," Simone insisted.
Severus looked across the Great Hall at where Lily sat among her friends. Mary and she were locked in an enthusiastic discussion while two of their year mates listen on. Lily spied Severus and waved happily at him. Mary smiled while the other two girls scowled in his directions and turned away with their noses up.
"I'd really appreciate any conversation other than this one," Severus informed Simone.
Simone sighed, "Fine. So what are you dressing as?"
"No clue," Severus replied, "Lily's secret. How about you? A Vampire, perhaps?"
Simone huffed, her nose in the air, "I refuse to mock intelligent beings by imitating them for other's amusement.
"What about dressing up as Ministry officials?" Severus proposed.
"I said intelligent beings," Simone reiterated, "Those are fine."
"You have more respect for other magical races than our own, don't you?" Severus asked in amusement.
Simone crossed her arms, "It won't change until wizards respect other magical races."
Severus watched her, bemused, "Keep fighting the good fight, Serapeum."
"I intend to," Simone stated firmly. You act as if I won't be sneaking pamphlets into every pocket about the importance of ending Halloween creature mockery. Attending the party in Creature-Face is offensive. I mean what's next? Allowing people to dress up as minstrels again?" She frowned, "As it is, if anyone shows up with their face painted, I'm reserving the right to hex them cross-eyed. I don't care if they're dressed as a black cat."
"You never told me what you're going as," Severus reminded her.
Simone grinned, "A Venetian Clown. Thea's going as one too."
"Mary's going as an old fashion Parisian showgirl," Severus said, "The ones that do the Cancan. There's a few variations of the outfit that aren't so risqué and have long skirts and sleeves instead."
Simone nodded, "You're looking at a French girl; I know the ones you mean. The classier looking ones."
"Right," Severus agreed, "Mary's transfiguring her bed curtains for the ruffled effect she needs on the skirt."
"How very inventive," Simone commented. She dabbed at her lips with her napkin and pushed her finished plate away from her.
"Well I best be going," Simone said, standing up, "I need to find Thea. We have a lot to do in preparation for tonight. Tah." She waved her fingers at Severus before leaving the Great hall.
Severus settled in to pour over his Charms notes with renewed interest. Halloween was no reason to fall behind in schoolwork.
{page break}
"Any reason we're heading this way?" Severus asked disinterestedly, arms crossing over his chest as he skulked down the hall.
They were walking along the fifth floor corridor. Nowhere near Slughorn's office which served as the location for the party, Severus was more than a little confused.
"Because I couldn't bring you into the girl's dorm," Lily explained, carrying two wrapped bundles under her arms, "and if I sent you to change in your room, you might never have come out."
"You know me so well," Severus mused.
"Don't look so gloomy, Severus" Mary chided, her arms laden with her own costume, "Tonight's going to be fun."
"Somehow I doubt that," Severus said moodily.
"I think you'll change your mind when you see your costume," Mary sang.
"Here we are," Lily declared, bringing them to a stop in front of a large door.
"Lavender Lilac," Lily spoke to the door. There was a click and the door opened to reveal a massive bathroom with a large, pool-sized tub sunken into the center of the floor.
"The prefect's bathroom," Lily explained to her gaping friends, "Our little secret that I brought you here, alright?"
"This is where prefects bathe?" Mary gawked, walking into the room.
"If we want to," Lily said, closing the door behind her friends, "I don't like to go often because I don't like being in the bathrooms by myself too much these days and it would be weird to ask one of the other prefect girls to wait here while I bathe."
"And yet, you can bring more than one person in here," Severus observed, "I'm not sure what the founders were thinking, but this seems like an awful easy way for a prefect to get their girlfriend pregnant."
"Severus!" Mary scolded, a hint of a grin on her face.
Severus shrugged, "Just pointing out facts."
Lily waved her wand and turned a towel rack into a small table and set her bundles down on them, "Got the make-up, Mary?" she asked.
"Right here," Mary answered, lifting up a satchel.
Severus blanched, moving back a step or two towards the door, "I never agreed to wearing make-up."
Lily giggled, "Don't worry, all you and I will need is gray and black, maybe white."
Severus quirked an eyebrow, "Why? What are we going as?"
Lily unrolled the bundles, "Dementors!"
Severus blinked, "Beg pardon?"
"Well, a variation of sorts, I guess," Lily continued, stepping towards him with a roll of black, shredded cheesecloth, "See, this will go over our faces like a veil and the ragged robes will cover out bodies." She held up the cloth to Severus's shoulders, measuring the width, "I brought gloves to for our hands too."
Mary came over with her make-up set, "We'll put a light dusting of gray on your faces, darken the circles around your eyes in black, and whiten the cheekbones to give off a more skeletal look."
"With the cheese cloth over our faces, people won't be able to recognize us unless they are right up against us," Lily exclaimed, "It's perfect for not being bothered by any jerks at the party. Slughorn will of course know who we are from when we enter, so we can still meet any of his connections he invited who may seem useful to our careers."
"Slughorn will probably be introducing you to them so he can brag anyway," Mary pointed out.
Severus eyed the costumes, considering them.
"I have to say this is an agreeable idea," he admitted, fingering the fabric, "I'll be honest though, it's grimmer than what I would have expected you to pick for yourself, Lily."
Lily shrugged, a halfhearted smile on her face.
"I didn't really feel like being a pretty princess or anything like that this year," she confessed, "This year, everyone knows me and not for a reason I'm comfortable with. It gets difficult having people's eyes on you all the time. I felt like blending in for once.
Mary nodded, "I know the feeling," she pulled an eye mask out of her satchel and a blond wig, "I wanted to have fun without so many eyes being on my every move. If I let go and cut loose dressed like this, who's going to know it was me?"
"It's freeing isn't it," Severus remarked, looking at the costume in his hands, "People claim a disguise is to hide yourself, but sometimes it's the perfect way to actually be yourself when no one else will let you. No scrutiny, no judgement; it's nice."
"It's a chance to drop the masks we wear every day," Lily said, "Professor Sprout said that's important." She rubbed at the fading scratches on her arm and smiled hopefully.
With a wave of her wand, a clothing rack turned into a small paper room divider.
"Now," Lily said, a big smile on her face, "Let's get dressed."
{page break}
Slughorn had truly outdone himself this year. An expanding charm on his office, the enlarged space was covered floor to ceiling in a black and orange canopy. The center of the ceiling had an elaborate chandelier hanging from it with rod iron fixtures shaped like wicked looking branches and fake bats enchanted to fly around and hang off them. Several orbs of light floated around the room.
A grand table was set off to one side of the room, heavily laden with appetizers, entrees and desserts like a buffet. Waiters went around carrying platters of hors d'oeuvres and wine glasses full of sparkling juice and cider.
"Slughorn certainly knows how to show off," Severus stated as he walked into the room. A black veil of cheesecloth hung over his face, allowing him to see relatively well but obscuring his face from passersby.
"You said it," Mary murmured, walking in behind him. She was wearing a mauve frilly blouse and matching skirt. She'd pinned up a side of her skirt slightly to show off the ruffles underneath and her long boots. Aside from her mask and wig, she had on her head a large, wide brimmed hat with a giant feathered plume sticking off it.
Mary snagged a glass of cider as a waiter walked by, "This is fancier than I expected."
"That's right, you've never been to one of Slughorn's parties," Lily recalled, coming into the room dressed similarly to Severus. Her long gloves had long fake black nails at the end of every finger, something Severus refused. When another waiter came round with puff pastries, Lily made use of her nails and stabbed one, using her nail as a skewer.
"See?" Lily said to Severus and he could faintly make out her smirk through her costume, "I bet you wished you hadn't refused these things now. You're going to get your gloves all dirty or have to take them off to eat."
"Or I could just not eat finger foods," Severus remarked, "Or I could do this," he pulled out his wand and with a flick; the tips of his gloves vanished, leaving his fingertips bare.
"Cheater," Lily said. Severus could tell by her voice she was pouting.
Slughorn choose that moment to make an appearance.
"Marvelous costumes!" he boomed, "And what might be the identities of such disguises?"
"It's me and Severus, Professor," Lily answered, pulling her veil up for a moment so that the teacher could see, "We brought our friend Mary MacDonald along."
Mary raised her mask up and curtseyed before sliding it back onto her face.
Slughorn nodded approvingly, "Miss MacDonald, you look just like the girl on the vintage of wine I selected for tonight. For grown-ups only, of course," he chuckled.
"I think he's already cracked that bottle open," Severus said out the side of his mouth.
"Definitely looks that way," Lily shot back with a giggle.
"Well," Slughorn said with a hiccup," Do make yourselves comfortable. Eat, drink, dance; there's plenty of fun to be had. I most go and greet everyone," with a tipsy wave, he stumbled off, calling out to one passerby, "Amistad! How you tried the wine?"
Mary and Lily giggled.
"He's already three sheets to the wind," Mary commented.
"I'm pretty sure that bottle he spoke of was finished before half the guests even arrived," Severus mused.
"Probably," said someone behind them.
Remus walked over with a smile. Wearing a long brown coat and a hat, he had a very long colorful scarf draped around his neck that nearly touched the floor.
"And what, pray tell, are you supposed to be?" Severus asked snidely.
"Oh, so it's you under there, Snape," Remus said with a grin, "Why, I'm the Doctor."
"Never heard of him," Severus said, causing Remus's smile to drop.
Lily laughed, "Severus isn't much for television. Though I'm surprised you know it, Remus."
"Hello Lily," Remus greeted before scratching his neck and grinning sheepishly, "Truthfully I don't. One of our dorm mates gave me the idea. I needed an easy outfit,"he looked down at his feet, "I think the scarf is supposed to be longer, but I ran out of washcloths to transfigure. Plus I didn't want to be tripping over it all night."
"I think you look great," Mary praised him.
Remus nodded at her, "I know that voice; thanks Mary." He looked the three of them over, "I see you're all going for some level of concealment tonight."
"We're incognito," Mary said, feeling quite chipper.
Remus laughed, "I can tell. Is any of this an attempt to avoid some less pleasant classmates," he gestured to a table where several older Slytherins stood in fine dress robes, glaring disdainfully at everyone.
"They apparently find muggle traditions for All Hallows to be juvenile and uncivilized," Remus explained.
"Figures," Mary huffed.
"To be fair, dressing up is a tradition customarily done by children," Severus pointed out.
Lily nudged him, "Of come off it. Just admit you're glad I convinced you to wear a costume."
Severus sighed. "The anonymity it rather enjoyable…provided no one recognizes my voice," he turned to Lupin.
Remus held his hands up, "Don't blame me, I have good hearing."
"Geeze I wonder why," Severus muttered sarcastically.
Mary squinted into the crowd, "I think I've spotted Simone and Thea."
Deep in discussion with a rather severe looking man were a pair of familiar looking Venetian clowns. Both were in hues of purple and white fabric covered in glitter and gemstones. The shorter of the pair wore a hat reminiscent of a jester with bells and ribbons hanging from it. The taller one—obviously Simone—wore a sort of beaded turban-like headdress with a face scarf coming off of it to hang below the chin.
Instead of traditional masks, the pair had painted their faces to resemble a porcelain appearance. Thea's face was white and a large butterfly wing swooped off one eyed in purple and gold face paint flecked with glitter, a full butterfly painted low on the opposing side of her face. Simone's face was a shimmery gold with a large violet painted around one eye, the vines trailing down and over the bridge of her nose to curl under her other eye, several small buds sprouting off it to decorate her cheek. Both girls has lips painted purple and black outlines around their eyes.
"What's that?" Lily asked, pointing to a gold creature on Thea's shoulder.
"That's Jerva," Severus explained, "Thea's gecko. She doesn't often bring her out of the dorms; must have figured she matched the outfit."
Jerva climbed up onto Thea's headpiece and surveyed the room with curiosity.
Simone looked over at that moment and spotted them. With a smile, she motioned them to join her.
"Let's go, Sev," Lily said, taking his hand.
Severus maneuvered through the congested space as he and Lily made their way over to Simone and her acquaintance. While she was in clear sight of them at a straightaway path, getting to her was no easy matter. People crowded nearly every available space, laughing and talking with one another, sharing jokes and gossip as they dined on an abundance of food.
Passing by the main table, Severus snagged himself a slice of ham and a plate, finding amusing comfort in his ability to eat quickly and unrefined without anyone watching thanks to his costume. He grabbed a cracker topped with thinly sliced salmon and down that as well, for once feeling uninhibited and free to indulge.
Just as he set his empty plate down on the tray of a passing waiter, someone bumped into his shoulder hard, actually causing him to stumble a little bit. Affronted, he turned around to see the offender, intending to give them a piece of his mind. Expecting to find either an embarrassed and defensive culprit ready to apologize or argue with him, he found a crowd of costumed faces not even pointing in his direction. With everyone lost in his or her own discussions, they paid Severus no mind.
Severus cast his eyes to the closest person by him; their proximity making them the most likely to have bumped into him.
They were a tall fellow—though Severus assumed they could have just as easily been a women with the looseness of the costume obscuring all body features. Donned in a long white wig, it hung in tendrils over their shoulders and draped over their arms like cobwebs. The majority of the costume was a long gray cloth that hung off their frame and dragged along the floor as they walked. When they turned to Severus, he could see their mask was faceless, bearing no discernible features, neither eyes nor mouth. Obviously, the person's head was much lower in the costume, the stiffness of the being's movements indicating that the upper part of the costume rested on the shoulders of the person wearing it to create an appearance of immense height.
The faceless visage faced Severus in silence. Though Severus could not make out any eyeholes in the costume it was clear this person could see him. After a moment's pause, the no-face leaned the upper part of its body towards in him a bow of acknowledgment, before turning and moving away through the crowd.
Severus stared after the person in confusion for a moment longer, before Lily—having no clue the interaction that had passed—took him by the hand and pulled him along.
Before they had made their way to Simone and Thea, both bearing matching grins at their arrival.
"Snape," Simone greeted, "Come meet Mr. Belby."
{page break}
"Ouch," Sirius grunted, "Watch where you're stepping, Wormtail."
"Sorry, Sirius," Peter simpered, "It's hard to walk under this thing."
"Well it's harder to see you when you're under that thing," Sirius said moodily. He scratched at his mask, a Gorilla costume if he hazard a guess, "This thing is itchy. Why couldn't we all hide under the cloak instead of just Peter?"
"Because it's too crowded in here and we'd take up too much space for people to not notice they bumped into something but saw nothing," James explained like it were obvious, "I would have had Peter nick a costume too, but it was too hard finding someone wearing a costume that would fit him."
"I'm not that big," Peter protested.
"Whatever," Sirius muttered irritably, "Let's just find Snivelly."
"And Lily," James added, adjusting his eye patch and fake beard.
The scanned the crowd searching for their target. There was an assortment of costumed faces around them. A scarecrow was snacking on appetizers by the buffet, a dragon was flirting with a pair of princesses. Two Venetian clowns were dancing to the music, spinning around erratically while the taller of the two cackled delightedly.
"He could be anyone here," Sirius complained, "I knew we should have gotten here earlier; we could have seen them show themselves to Slughorn. But noooo, here we are, hours late."
"Hey it took longer than I thought to cram those guys into the broom cupboard without being seen," James argued.
"Hate to be them when they wake up," Sirius snorted, "Sitting in their skivvies in a closet."
"Wait, look over there!" Peter exclaimed.
"We can't see where you're pointing, you silly tit," Sirius said in exasperation.
"Over there by the girl dressed as a fairy," Peter clarified.
A few feet away, there was a skinny figure in what appeared to be a black robe with greasy black hair and pale skin.
"He didn't bother with a costume after all," James crowed, "Lucky us!"
"He's as greasy looking as ever," Sirius snickered, "How about we give Snivellous a bath?"
"What a lovely idea," James agreed, drawing his wand. Flicking it at the refreshment table, one of the punch bowls floated high into the air and hovered across the room.
"Careful," Sirius warned, guiding the bowl's flight with his own wand, "Careful…"
Just as it reached a point over Snape's head, James and Sirius made a quick motion with their wands and the bowl upended, dumping its contents.
All at once, Snape drew everyone's attention by letting out a very outraged, girlish shriek.
"My dress!" the figure cried. Whirling around, the sight that greeted three of the Marauders wasn't Snape but a very incensed girl in a banshee costume.
"Even my make-up's ruined," the drenched girl cried, "I spent hours on it!"
Spotting James and Sirius with their wands out, her face twisted in fury.
"You two!" she yelled, "How dare you!" Pulling out her own wand, she advance on them menacingly, several of her friends doing the same.
"Might be time to book it, Prongs," Sirius said worriedly.
"Definitely," James agreed.
The pair quickly turned to make an escape, but they tripped over an invisible Peter in the process, sending them crashing to the ground.
"Potter!" the girl roared as James's beard came off, "You'll pay for this!"
"Run!" James cried taking off for the exit with Sirius close behind. The angry mob of girls were hot on their heels.
{page break}
"What on earth was all that commotion about?" Lily asked curiously from the other side of the room.
"You're guess is as good as mine," Severus offered before he and Lily returned to their discussion with Belby.
'Was that James?' Remus wondered to himself, 'Ah well, as long as he's bothering someone else for a change and not Snape.'
{page break}
Late that night, Simone and Thea wandered the torch lit halls of the seventh floor.
"Any reason we aren't heading to the dungeon?" Thea asked her friend.
Simone shrugged, "We'll get there eventually; I just felt like taking the longer route."
"You can't find Amadeus, can you?" Thea asked knowingly.
"Little bastard ran off with one of my favorite bracelets," Simone muttered, "I still haven't found him."
"He probably hid it on you," Thea suggested, unwrapping a chocolate frog card she'd saved from the party.
"Yeah, but where?" Simone asked. She looked at the card, "What'd you get?"
"Rowena Ravenclaw again!" Thea said in exasperation, "This is getting ridiculous."
"Maybe fate's trying to tell you something," Simone joked.
Thea rolled her eyes, "Like what?" She rotated the card this way and that, unaware of the light glinting off of it catching a certain creature's attention.
Jerva scurried off of Thea's hat and grabbed the card in her mouth. With surprising speed, she crawled off of Thea onto the ground and took off down the hall.
"Jerva, come back!" Thea cried, running after the gecko.
"At least I'm not the only one losing pets!" Simone called, following her.
Reaching the joining hallway, Jerva scurried to the wall and attempted to climb it, but the rocky surface was not suitable to stick to.
"Jerva," Thea scolded, catching up to her pet, "Don't run off like that." She reached to pick Jerva up, but the little lizard shot off to the side down the hall.
"Jerva!" Thea headed her off, causing the lizard to double back the other way.
"Now this is entertaining," Simone said with a laugh.
"Shut it," Thea growled, chasing her pet back and forth along the floor, "at least Jerva didn't steal anything important."
"She still stole something, so she's no better than Amadeus," Simone pointed out, "I wondered where she was going to put it?"
"I don't know? Where would you hide something shiny?" Thea asked irritably.
Just as Thea got a hold of the gecko, a strange noise filled the air, like the shifting of stone.
Thea and Simone watched in amazement as a large, ornate door appeared in the wall.
Simone slowly walked up to her gob smacked friend.
"I…love that power of yours," she said, patting Thea on the shoulder before walking towards the door.
"Simone, we don't even know what's in there," Thea warned.
"I know," Simone replied, hand on the doorknob, "which is why there's only one way to find out." With that, she opened the door.
Stretching out in all directions was a huge, cavernous room. The walls stretched high into the air to a cathedral-like ceiling, their footsteps echoing in the large space. Every which way were enormous piles of books and boxes and various other items, covered in varying levels of dust.
"Wow," Simone breathed.
Thea hesitantly followed her inside, Jerva firmly in her grip, "What is this place?"
Walking over to the nearest pile, Simone picked up a very familiar item off a broken table.
She rotated her bracelet in her hands, "A place where things are hidden…" she said in wonder, "H-how…how…" she shook herself, looking around, "How the devil did that bloody cat find his way in here when the door wasn't even there before?!"
"Kneazles are clever," Thea suggested weakly, still staring at their surroundings in awe.
"Yeah but just because he's a magical creature doesn't mean he actually has magic," Simone snapped. Pocketing her bracelet, she stood up straight, shoulders back, lifting her wand and illuminating the tip, "Alright, let's check this place out."
The pair stuck close together as they wandered through the towering heaps of relics and rubbish, not trusting their surrounds enough to split up. The walked past broken furniture and stacks of old papers and books, paintings that had seen better days and décor that needed a good polish.
"I can't believe we've never found this place before," Simone said, picking her way through a heap of clutter, "Clearly other people have—look," she held up a portrait of a rather unattractive young man with large front teeth and enormous ears, "Some things are better off lost, eh?"
Thea bit back a giggle, "Sim, that's mean."
"Whatever…" Simone said dismissively, already on the hunt for new discoveries.
Thea let Simone have her fun, herself not very interested in poking through what was sure to be personal possessions people wanted to stay hidden. It was a little too dark to be rooting around in strange places anyway, so she occupied herself with the policy of 'look, don't touch,'.
Content to just meander, Thea became distracted by an odd sound. It wasn't a buzzing sound, but more like a hum, a steady hum, faint but constant. Curious, Thea slowed the sound, weaving through discarded possessions long since abandoned.
Strolling past a tall dresser with a cracked mirror on it, she nearly walked into a footstool and only just righted herself in time, bumping into the dresser in the process.
As the dresser wobbled in place, something rattled on the top of it and slide off, landing with a metallic ting on the floor.
"What's this?" Thea wondered aloud. Tucking Jerva securing into a pocket on her costume, she bent down and picked up the fallen item, turning it over in her hands.
It was an old piece, not quite jewelry but rather more grand and official than that. The tarnished metal barely glimmered in the sparse lit of the room, but it still captured an air of beauty and regality in its molded curves and embellishments. In the center of the piece was a large blue Gem that must have glittered like starlight back when it was new.
The humming was emanating from it; it was pulsing in her hands.
"Hey, Sim," Thea called out, her eyes never leaving her find, "Take a look at this."
"Hm?" Simone poke her head out from behind a mountain of broken chairs. She had taken her hat from her costume off and was using it to carry random things she'd found. Nothing valuable per say; just a glove missing its match, a melted key, and a pair of green horn rimmed glasses with one lens crack down the middle.
"What'cha find?" Simone sauntered over and examined Thea's discovery.
"I'm not sure," Thea admitted, "It sort of found me."
"Let me see it," Simone requested, taking it from Thea, "It looks like a tiara."
"It's vibrating," Thea told her, "Like…humming or something."
"I don't feel anything," Simone said, "Don't hear anything either."
"How can you not?" Thea asked, placing her hand on the edge of the headpiece, "There it is again!"
Simone shrugged, "Nothing out of the ordinary to me. It's pretty though." Studying it, she flashed a smile at Thea and then move to put the tiara on.
Without thinking, Thea shot and hand out and stopped Simone, "Don't."
Simone paused, the tiara hovering over her head, "What's the matter?"
"Something's not right," Thea told her, "I just…it feels off." She looked at the tiara again, stepping back slightly, "This thing was hidden for a reason and I'm not sure I'd like to know what that is…"
Giving her friend a puzzled look, Simone brought the tiara back down in front of her, looking it over carefully.
"What could be so bad about it?" she asked.
Staring at the tiara, Simone traced her fingers over the weathered piece, following the curves and lines of its shape. Her eyes landed on the gem in the center, once so beautiful, now dust covered and grimy.
She stared at the gem for a long time, seemingly lost in it.
It was such a pretty gem…probably all shiny and blue under all that dirt. It would look gorgeous on her head…
Simone began to lean forward towards the tiara but caught herself. As soon as she did, a sharp pain shot through her head, causing her to wince and nearly drop the tiara, one hand gripping her head in agony.
"Sim!" Thea cried, lunging forward to steady her friend.
"I'm fine," Simone grunted through clenched teeth, "Just a little headache is all." As she raised her head, Thea gasped.
"Simone, your nose is bleeding!" Thea exclaimed.
Bringing a hand to her face, Simone pulled away to find a crimson smear painting her fingers. She looked at the tiara. The metal was hot in her hand, not burning, but warm with the heat of life…but inhuman.
A hint of a whisper trickled into Simone's ears, hissing, taunting…
Simone gasped, dropping the tiara in shock.
"We need to go," she stated.
She spotted a small hatbox off to the side. Snatching it up, she stuffed the tiara inside.
"Sim, what are you doing?" Thea asked, alarmed.
Closing the box's lid, Simone tapped it with her wand, "Incarcerous!"
Thick ropes shot out of the tip of her wand and wrapped themselves tightly around the box.
Simone looked at Thea worriedly, "Thea, we were never here."
Thea blinked, "But, Sim—"
"Listen to me!" Simone said urgently, grabbing hold of Thea's wrist, "You were right; this thing—something is wrong with it. I don't know what it is, but I don't want to know; it's bad. No one can ever find it."
Simone lifted the box high into the air and with a mighty throw, flung the box clear into the air, it landing with a distant thud somewhere out of sight.
"We never saw this room," Simone instructed, "We don't even know it exists. Whatever that thing is, it's staying hidden, got it?"
Thea stared at her, her lip quivering.
"Got it?" Simone repeated, a bit more urgently.
Thea gulped, shakily nodding her head, "R-right…"
Holding tightly to each others' hand, the girls fled in a panic, the door closing behind them and fading into nothingness.
Soooo, things just got interesting huh?
The plot...it thickens!
Hope the dementor costumes makes at least some of my readers smile.
Read and review :)