Five weeks had passed since the initial sorting of the first years. Rob, enjoying a rare moment alone, leaned up against the sill of the window and gazed up at the sky.
For the past five weeks, the sky had been the same daunting shade of black. For five whole weeks there had not been a day of sunshine; just black clouds swirling into each other. The stranger thing was that there was no rain either, although there had been the occasional rumblings of thunder. Rob pushed his glasses up his nose and sighed. This unnerved him, and on such occasions his mind wandered back to his sorting.
Watch for black skies, the hat had warned, just before sorting him into Ravenclaw, his namesake. Did the hat literally mean black skies, or was it just a metaphor? Shaking his head - no sense in pouring over mysteries he couldn't solve - Rob turned back inside. A figure ran up the hallway. It was Gerald.
"Hey Rob," he said breathlessly, clutching at a stitch in his chest.
"Hello," Rob said, with a dignified air to his voice. "What's up?"
"Nothing much, you?"
"Same old, same old. What did you come barreling up here for?"
"Helen's in the infirmary."
"What?"
Gerald shrugged. "There's something wrong with her eyes."
Rob looked at him incredulously, and Gerald shrugged again. "I know, it sounds odd."
"Helen is blind," Rob said matter-of-factly. "How can there be something wrong with her eyes that is not already wrong?"
Rolling his eyes, Gerald answered. "Don't shoot the messenger. Anyway, your father wants to see us in the infirmary."
Feeling that this couldn't get much stranger, Rob nodded slowly, and followed Gerald.
# # #
"I thought maybe you got abducted by Peeves," Robert the eldest said dryly to his son and escort.
"Sorry, Professor Ravenclaw," Gerald said, taking a seat by Helen's bed, who was sleeping. "What's the matter with her?"
Robert removed his eyeglasses and rubbed at his eyes. "She says that her eyes have been bothering her."
Susan, who had been standing at the head of the hospital bed, looked at her sleeping friend. "How so?"
Leaning back, the professor that was Robert shook his head. "She claims that she has been seeing flashes of green and red recently - very suspicious, considering the weather we've had around here," he said, meaning the constant black cloud cover.
"What green and red?" Grace asked. "What does that have to do with anything?"
Robert sighed and replaced his glasses. "I can't know for sure, but I think she's a Born Auror."
"What?" four voices chorused at once.
"A Born Auror. It means - oh God - well, she can sense evil. Rather, a sixth sense that most people are born without - BA syndrome is found in about one in fifty thousand people."
"You mean, Muggles have it too?" asked Rob, fascinated.
"Well, a more diluted sense of it. They call it ESP."
"ESP?"
"Not sure what it stands for," Robert said with a rueful smile. "But it means you can sense things before they happen."
"So, Helen can sense evil?" Gerald asked skeptically.
Robert nodded. "It is probable. Most of the time, BA syndrome happens in people when they are born without one of their senses - for example, Helen can't see, so she can see the colors of evil. A deaf person might hear ringing in their ears, and so on."
"Wow," Susan remarked, impressed.
"So," Grace suddenly asked, "does that mean that the clouds outside are evil?"
Robert shrugged. "I have no way of knowing - in Hogwarts, there is too much disturbance for me to tell you. Defense Against the Dark Arts, for one."
"Oh," Susan said. Then, changing the subject; "when will Helen be out of the infirmary?"
"When you leave and give the poor girl enough time to recover!" a shrill voice burst out of the office door. Everyone whirled around to see Madame Pomfrey, still going strong in her sixties, storming over to them. "Okay, everybody OUT," she demanded.
Robert gave a resigned sigh, and stood up. "She's right," he said, herding the students out the door. "Run along now, you'll be late for class."
# # #
In the five weeks that had passed since the first 'outing-that-was-most-certainly-not-a-date', things had gotten a little more serious in the relationship between Draco Malfoy and Sarah Slytherin. For one thing, Lucius had stopped tagging along on their dates - but this was mostly because Sarah had finally lost her temper and transfigured him into a toad on their second date.
One day, Draco gathered his nerve and went to go and ask his father's advice on something. He slowly plodded up the stairs, thinking of what he was going to say and how he was going to say it. He knocked on the door.
"What is it?" a voice snapped inside, sounding rather croaky - Lucius Malfoy hadn't totally gotten over the effects of his adventures as Lucius the Toad yet.
"Father?" asked Draco, almost pitifully timid, opening the door.
"Yes?" asked Mr. Malfoy, setting down his novel and turning to face his son.
"Got a moment?"
"I don't 'Got a moment', but if you have something to say, yes, I will listen to it."
Draco stepped in and restlessly shifted from foot to foot for a moment, before drawing a breath.
"How long do people spend courting before they're engaged?" he asked, quickly and bluntly.
Mr. Malfoy's eyebrows shot up so fast his son was surprised that they didn't hit the ceiling. "Well... most of the time, people in our class, they have arranged marriages... so they're known about for nearly ten years before the deed is done."
"I'm not talking about arranged marriages."
"I wouldn't have much of an idea, then."
"Oh." Draco turned to leave.
"This wouldn't happen to have anything to do with that Sarah Slytherin, would it?" Mr. Malfoy inquired as Draco's foot was on the threshold. Draco winced.
What do you think? he asked himself in his mind. But he didn't dare speak so saucily out loud. "Yes, Father," he muttered, crimson exploding all over his face.
Mr. Malfoy just shook his head and returned to his novel. This surprised Draco. He expected his father to explode in a tirade of disapproval and forbid him to take any such course of action.
"You are surprised," Mr. Malfoy said after Draco lingered, "You are surprised I don't disapprove."
"Well..."
"Let's just say that I don't exactly like what she is, but I do like who she is," Mr. Malfoy said carelessly, turning a page in his book.
Draco nodded slowly, backing out and shutting the door. After he was out of his father's bedchamber, he stood outside the door, thinking. That wasn't really the reason he wanted his father to approve of his hopefully soon-to-be bride, but after his last marriage had turned out to be such a disaster, he supposed he should be happy that his father cared for Sarah at all.
Shaking his head, Draco swept down the halls.
# # #
Professor Wazird walked around the room, looking at each students work in her class - charms. Today, they were working on the lifting spell, Wingardium Leviosa.
"Come on, Longbottom!" the professor said, rapping her knuckles on Winston Longbottom's desk sharply. "Flick that wand! I want to see some spirit in that stick of balsa! Quincy, accentuate those w's! I want to hear that 'gar', Thomas! Hear it! Feel it!"
"I'll give her something to hear," Grace muttered in the back of her brother's ear, staring at the professor.
"Shut up," Gerald told her tersely, shaking his wand. "Wing-gar-dium Le-vo-SA!" he yelled at the feather he was supposed to be levitating. The feather flew about three inches in the air, and began to fall. Grunting his frustration, Gerald flicked the wand harder, sending the feather across the room... right into Professor Wazird's awaiting palm.
"Very nice, Finnigan," the professor told Gerald as she settled the feather before her. "But you're just supposed to do it like this - WINGARDIUM LEVOSA!" she bellowed, so loudly that the rest of the class turned. Looking at the feather, Professor Wazird raised her palms, and the tiny feather levitated ten feet off the table. "And if you want to move it," she went on, not taking her eyes off the feather, "go like this." she flicked her hands towards Gerald, and it landed neatly on his desk. "Only you do it with a wand."
The professor winked one of her hazel eyes at Gerald slightly. Gerald went purple in the face and made a gurgling noise in his throat. But Professor Wazird didn't see this - she was off bellowing at Karen Weasley. "I want to hear those syllables!" she boomed at the redheaded girl. "Don't make a face at me Weasley, inhale that air - it's good for you! - and use it! Windgardium Levosa! Say it with me, kiddies! Wingardium Levosa!"
"Wingardium Levosa," the class repeated dutifully. "Wingardium Levosa."
When the class had repeated it about ten times, Gerald found himself the last one yelling. "Windgardium Levosa!" he roared.
The class tittered.
Gerald went red in the ears.
# # #
"Ugh," Grace said when they were safely out of the presence of Professor Wazird. "That was like boot camp in Charms."
"Shut up," Gerald ordered his sister sternly. "I think we'll learn a lot."
Grace stopped dead in her tracks, with her brother still walking, until Gerald noted that he was walking by himself. "What is it?" he asked.
A slow, devilish grin spread slowly across Grace's face, like honey. "You like Professor Wazird," she said.
"I do not!" Gerald protested half-heartedly.
Fortunately for Gerald, Susan came barreling up, looking ecstatic. "A dueling club!" she exhaled happily. "There's a dueling club next hour!"
"What?!" the twins asked in unison, Charms forgotten. They both dug out their new schedules. Sure enough:
Lunch - 11:30
Charms (single class) - 12:30
OPTIONAL - Dueling club OR Flying lessons - 1:30
"What do you do if you don't go to the dueling club or Flying lesson?" asked Grace.
"I suppose you just do homework, or have free time," Susan shrugged. "We can do Flying Lessons tomorrow. Let's go to the Dueling club."
"Oh, if it means so much to you, all right," Gerald complied, following his friend down the halls.
# # #
"Hello," Professor Potter said, mouthing the words to the three newcomers. "Sit down and be quiet," he finished, winking at the three.
Professor Harry Potter had taken over the Defense Against the Dark Arts class three years ago - a new record, some joked. His wife, Professor Hermione Granger, taught the Arithmancy class, which none of them would have until next year, at least. Everybody was thankful that Professor Granger had kept her last name - two Professor Potters would have been too much.
"Right then," Professor Granger said, quickly scanning the crowd, consisting of about twenty first years. Rob walked in, followed carefully by Helen, who had cajoled Madam Pomfrey to let her out of the infirmary. Susan beckoned to them, and they all sat in the corner.
"The first thing you should know about dueling here," Professor Potter said, pushing hair out of his eyes, "is that you are not allowed to use any of these spells without a professor's written consent. Otherwise, we will cancel the dueling club. Do we have an understanding?"
There was a muttering of 'yes, Professor' throughout the room. Professor Granger smiled toothily.
"Okay. Now, who knows the first spell there is to dueling?"
Winston Longbottom and Shirley Quincy's hands shot up simultaneously.
Professor Granger nodded to them both, and they answered in unison. "Expelliarmus, the disarming spell."
Professor Potter nodded vigorously. "Yes. It is one of the easiest spells to begin with - and it can be a vital move that can save your life - if you can get your opponent to lose his weapon. Watch please."
Professors Potter and Granger stood about three meters parallel to each other, bowed, and each took a step back from the other, raising their wands in dueling arcs.
"Expelliarmus!" they both yelled. Scarlet magic boomed, and a moment later, two wands flew to opposite sides of the room. Everybody cheered.
"Now," Professor Granger said after retrieving her wand, "there are ways to block the Expelliarmus spell, but the easiest one consists of crucial timing. This particular one is rather diverse, it has effect on most simple dueling curses."
"So, it wouldn't work on the Dark Arts," Professor Potter said with a grin.
The professors went into proper dueling stance again, raising their wands.
"Expelliarmus!" Professor Potter said, and the scarlet magic flamed again.
"Infuera!" Professor Granger yelled, and a bolt of sharp yellow flew out of her wand, and wrapped around the billowing red cloud, and squeezed like a cobra. The red cloud lost the fight, and dissipated. The students cheered again.
"With Infuera, however, your aim has to be perfect, or the spell will miss, and be no good. Who would like to try?" Professor Potter asked, scanning the crowd.
Hands shot up like fast-growing plants. "Oh, how about... Miss Harrisford... and Mr. Ravenclaw. Mr. Jordan, stop bouncing about like that!"
Rob and Susan nodded to each other, and grabbed their wands. Professor Potter took over Susan, while Professor Granger planted Rob's feet together.
"Now, Miss Harrisford is going to do the Expelliarmus, while Mr. Ravenclaw tries his hand at Infuera. Go on," Professor Granger prompted.
Susan slung her arm back. "Expelliarmus!" she cried. Crimson streaked out of her wandtip.
"Infuera!" Rob cried, after lining up his shot. It wasn't too hard to aim at, since Susan wasn't good at condensing spells, and the large crimson cloud was easy to hit. His aim was perfect.
The spells met, and - Rob's wand started buzzing alarmedly. He looked around in surprise, was this supposed to happen? Looking across, he saw that Susan's wand was behaving in the same way...
A golden thread was strung between the wands where red and yellow light had been before - the class was screaming and running around, the professors were shouting to each other, trying to figure out what to do...
An invisible hand closed around the back of Rob's robes, lifting him off the ground. He shrieked in alarm, kicking and scrambling for the ground that was now about three feet below his feet... Susan was screaming loudly as well...
The wands started to vibrate, and the two grabbed onto their wands tightly by both hands, not wanting to let go and topple to the ground. The thread of gold seemed to snap, and crisscrossed patterns of golden light enclosed around the wandbearers. The sounds outside were muffled now, and the wands were shaking more furiously than ever.
"What is going on?" Susan cried, kicking her feet around.
"I - don't know..."
Susan's thrashing had gotten a hole punctured in the golden web. Many more professors and classes had filtered into the room to watch the spectacle. People were shouting, and finally, the unmistakable sound of Professor Potter's voice -
"Priori Incantatem!" he was shouting above the turmoil. "It's Priori Incantatem!"
Back in the web, more odd things were happening. There was a sudden screech of the wands, and Rob's wand got so hot he was afraid of it bursting into flame. Then, echoes of his voice started to ring about the room...
"Infuera!" the echoes of Rob said. Bright yellow flew out of the back of his wand, to zoom around the bubble.
"Wingardium Levosa!" another echo said. A chair on the other end of the room flew into the air.
"Plateum Maleurm!" Rob's voice said from the wand. Green fires exploded around the room.
"Reneklovitz!" A teapot in the back of the room started to turn into a turtle, but didn't quite make it - it still had the pattern of roses on the shell, and it was breathing steam.
"It's saying all of the incantations I did today!" Rob cried over the din of the crowd.
Then, it all stopped. The web of gold went away - the golden thread did not connect the wands anymore, and they were suspended in the air by a gentle force. They looked down, and saw Professor Wazird, who had both of her fists clenched, as if holding onto something. She lowered her fists, and Rob and Susan came down with them. When they were safely on the ground again, Professor Potter approached them.
"Do you have any similar elements in your wands?" he asked them, in a clipped voice.
"Well," Rob said, looking at his magical wood, "they're supposed to be the exact same thing."
"What?" asked Professor Granger, who had just finished ushering all of the other students and professors out of the room.
Susan sighed, and gave a recap of what happened at the wand store. Professor Potter rubbed his forehead and addressed the class.
"What you have just witnessed is Priori Incantatem, a reaction when two alike wands are forced to battle against each other. The spells you heard Mr. Ravenclaw yelling were actually echoes of spells he had done earlier - one of the two wands always regurgitates the last few spells that the wandbearer has done - if we had let the reaction last longer, more spells would have happened. Any questions?"
Allison Taide raised her hand. "I have unicorn hair in my wand. If I dueled against, say, Karen, and she had unicorn hair in her wand, would Pri-whatever happen?"
Professor Granger shook her head. "Good question, Taide. Unless the unicorn hair was from the same unicorn, no, it would have battled as usual. The reason why Harrisford and Ravenclaw's wands reacted like that, was because they have the exact same wands, and the same would have happened between the Finnigans, and Helen if we had them pared against each other," she explained. "Anyway, I think that's enough excitement for one class period. The Dueling Club meets again tomorrow. You are dismissed."
Everybody scuttled out of the room, chattering like mad about what had happened. Rob and Susan discreetly made their way to their next class.
# # #
On this particular outing, Draco had taken Sarah out for dinner again - this time to a very fancy, elite restaurant called Le Ficelle. It was named for the constant string playing at the concert shell in the middle, and the restaurant was filled with the rich sound of cellos, the double bass, violas, violins, and the harp.
Sarah fidgeted in her seat. As nice as Le Ficelle was, she couldn't help but feel nervous. Most of the people here were well bred; high-society figures who knew which fork to use. Sarah was none of these things, and she felt out of place. Once, on accident, she had dropped her fork.
"Bother!" she whispered. But before she could bend over, a servant had whisked to her side, picked up the fork, and handed her a new, clean one.
"Um... Wow. Thanks. You, ah, shouldn't have?" Sarah asked, feeling stupider by the second.
The servant looked mildly amused, but bowed, and retreated back into the line of servants by the walls. Sarah blinked after him.
"They're not that used to being thanked," Draco said mildly. Sarah scowled.
"It's not like I'm Miss Manners," she said darkly.
Draco grinned as another butler came up with a flask of wine.
"Sir?" he asked, removing the cork and handing it over to Draco to smell.
"Yes yes, it's all very well," Draco said with a presumptuous air. The waiter poured a little into Sarah's glass and a little into Draco's before bowing, placing the wine in a bucketful of ice, and walking away.
They drank in silence for a few moments, before the cello struck up a sort of slow dance, with the other instruments swirling their music gracefully behind its lead.
"Do you dance?" Draco finally asked, swishing what wine was left in his glass around. Sarah looked at him.
"No," she said flatly.
"Why?"
"I-I don't like it!"
"You don't know how."
"You're right," Sarah agreed, chagrined.
"Come on, then," Draco said, pulling her to her feet, "I'll teach you how."
Sarah's heart thudded in her chest. "Since you're set on it so, I suppose."
The pair walked out to the dance floor, and Draco planted his hand on Sarah's hip, while Sarah reached up slightly (she wasn't that much shorter than he) to put her hand on his shoulder, and they clasped hands.
"This particular dance isn't that hard," Draco was saying. "Follow my lead. One-two-three, one-two-three..."
There were few others on the dance floor, and those that were were merely talking, so they moved out of the way. After a few moments of 'one-two-three'-ing in a circle, Sarah felt that she had gotten the hang of it, and started taking smoother steps around, making the pair look like true dancers, unlike waddling geese.
The song finished, and they went to sit down, among polite clapping for the musicians, and a few bows from the men. Sarah wasn't sure how to react, so she just flashed a smile and hurriedly went to sit down at their table.
"So," Sarah asked once they were seated, "where did you learn how to dance?"
Draco looked rather amused. "I learned when I was younger."
"That helps," Sarah told him sarcastically. Draco just sighed and leaned back on the chair.
The violin struck up a mournfully beautiful chord, with the viola taking over halfway. Draco sighed and looked over at the dance floor. "Come on," he ordered her in a soft voice.
"Come what?" Sarah asked when he grabbed her hand and pulled her back on the dance floor.
Instead of dancing this time, Draco shoved his hands in his pockets and looked her over, head to toe. The music dimmed.
"Remember when we were in our fourth year and I gave you the Lumosphere, and you gave me that butterfly?"
Sarah grinned, remembering Sprite. "I do."
"I liked you ever since then."
Sarah felt her throat close over. "Really?" she managed to croak out. The music was no longer audible - all there was was her fast coming breath, and the thudding of her heart.
"Really." With that sentence, he got down on one knee. The music stopped, the people stopped, the world stopped, it all stopped.
Oh my God... he's going to... I promised myself I wouldn't get married again... but what does it matter? she thought, her eyes glazing over as colors melted into each other. Draco produced a small velvet box, and inside was a golden band, with a nice size diamond on the top. The gemstone flickered with the colors of the rainbow as candlelight bounced off of it.
"Sarah Slytherin, will you marry me?"
Sarah stared down into the gray eyes that looked placidly back. Gray into gray. Identical. Graygray. Her temples started throbbing.
We've only been together five weeks... and he wants me to marry him? But, we haven't known each other for five weeks... we've known each other for forever... forever?
This all condensed into a split second of time as she took a deep breath, her lungs filling with air that felt thick like syrup.
She finally nodded.
"I would love to."
# # #
"Sarah did what?" Gabriel Gryffindor shouted upon getting the letter than she and Draco were engaged.
# # #
"They did what?" Hannah wanted to know as she went through her mail.
# # #
Thump went Hayley Hufflepuff to the floor when she read that letter.
# # #
"You did what?" Lucius Malfoy asked in alarm when Draco broke the news to him.
# # #
Three voices chimed out over the Great Hall.
"What?" Robert Ravenclaw asked, looking disbelieving.
"Father did what?" Alexandre asked Susan, who was sitting a few places away from him.
"Mum did what?" Susan asked, thrusting away from the table.
Helen, Rob, Grace and Gerald rushed over to their table. "What happened?" Rob asked urgently.
Susan had gone pale in the face. "You could safely say that Alexandre and I are related now."
"What?!" everybody asked, grabbing the parchment and reading it frantically.
"Some people break up during engagement," Helen said matter-of-factly.
Susan had finally gotten herself under control and shrugged. "As long as Mum is happy, I suppose it doesn't matter."
# # #
Two days later, the skies were black and cloudy and usual, but the Quidditch match went on as normal. Today's match - Ravenclaw verses Slytherin.
"I wish we were old enough to play," Gerald pouted, watching as a Ravenclaw Chaser swerved expertly around a Bludger.
"I do too, so you could get your head bashed in by a Beater, and not bother us anymore," Grace countered crossly.
Gerald grunted at his sister, but resumed watching the game. A few moments later, there was a tap on their shoulders. They turned around to find Professor Wazird standing behind them, frowning at the game.
"This is boring," she said, sitting next to them. Gerald nodded vigorously.
"Very boring. Who wants to play Quidditch I sure don't there are better things to do like study Charms," he said very quickly, gaping at the professor. She looked at him oddly.
"Well, I suppose that that's a good thing... I hated Charms when I was your age... well, a little older than you, actually. Anyway, would you like to do a favor for me? It'll be Charms extra credit."
In reality, the game was getting rather boring, the teams being very lopsided (Slytherin was crushing Ravenclaw 164-28), and they were about to leave. "What is it?" Helen asked, turning her head towards the professor.
Professor Wazird sighed and produced a list. "I have to go and get these potion ingredients for Professor Astrilade. Will you go and get them for me?"
Gerald grabbed the list, and looked it over. "Get leaves roots very good bring them back get Charms credit for some I mean get some credit for Charms."
Grace rolled her eyes. "I guess so."
"You'll find everything at the edge of the Forbidden forest, you won't have to go into it. Thanks, I owe you." She left, and the children left the Quidditch stands.
"It'll be more exciting than the Quidditch game," Rob said, plodding along behind.
"Yes," said Susan with a smirk. "We were beating the tailfeathers off of the Ravenclaws - maybe they should call for mercy and get it over with."
Rob glared at her. "When your house plays Gryffindor, I hope you lose. Badly."
"I smell honeysuckle," Helen said hurriedly, not wanting a stupid argument to erupt. "Isn't honeysuckle root on that list?"
It indeed was, and they pulled it up out of the ground, along with bark from an impossible tree, and they found some unicorn hair on a bush - not on the list, but probably helpful in something.
The sky started acting oddly. The clouds started to shift faster than before, and a single drop fell from the sky onto Gerald's hand.
"AARRRRGGGH!" he cried, dropping the bag of potion ingredients and clutching his hand.
"What's wrong?" asked Grace, wrenching Gerald's hand out so she could get a good look at it.
Where the raindrop had been before was a water-shaped burn, of a nasty yellowish color. More rain started to fall, and Helen screeched.
"What?" asked Rob.
"My eyes...!" she said, and they were indeed watering, to the point where her eyes almost looked like liquid, and they spilled over. The burning rain splattered Rob on the nose, and he wailed.
"Into the forest!" Susan ordered, and they all ran in to avoid getting dowsed with the painful rain.
Back on the Quidditch field, the game had been abandoned in haste, after a short downpour left three Beaters and the Ravenclaw Seeker badly burned.
"Robert, Robert!" Professor Wazird called, tugging him on the arm.
"Where's the fire, Ane?" he asked her, looking down at her.
The professor took a deep breath and spilled out the story in a rush. "And I sent five students into the forest to look for potion ingredients - one of them was your son - and they're not back!"
Robert went deathly pale and looked outside, where the burning rain was coming in a downpour. "It would be suicide to send a search party out - this rain is like no other. I tried to send up a shield, and it was melted down."
Professor Wazird took a breath, held it, and then exhaled slowly and nodded before walking away.
Robert stared, rigid, out the window at the rain. "It's not like I didn't expect it," he said, voice tart. "Tom Riddle... damn him!"
The temper of Robert, so hard to aggravate, was in full swing now. He picked up a plate, threw it in the air, muttered something under his breath, and the plate crumbled.
# # #
When the rain drove harder, the five were forced to recede farther back into the forest, save getting burnt. When they were in an area that was thick enough to keep the rain from eating all the way through the forest, they collapsed against the ground, Helen weeping.
"What's wrong?" Grace asked, alarmed.
"My eyes," she cried, tears streaming out of her blind eyes. "They hurt." The green light 0-that had once appeared in flashes was now in full, Technicolor detail, bright and neon and not fading away. It was very painful to Helen, who never really used her eyes.
Everybody felt bad for Helen, but there was not much they could do besides huddle miserably beneath a wide tree and hope that the rain would stop soon.
"What's that?" asked Gerald suddenly, pointing into the woods. Something smoky white was barreling towards them.
"Maybe it's a unicorn?" asked Susan uncertainly.
"That's no unicorn!" Helen said abruptly, rocketing to and fro. "Unicorns are nice creatures!"
"What's wrong with it?" Rob asked nervously, looking at the white thing that was rapidly approaching. Helen just sobbed harder.
"It's all red and green and nasty and evil and painful," she wept. This made everybody very uncomfortable.
The whitish thing came closer and closer before it exploded into a clearing. It was fog. White, gray, thick, cotton-like fog. Susan couldn't see anybody or anything.
"Everybody?" she asked, uncertain. She backed up against the tree and felt around. Her hand hit something soft and fleshy and damp: Helen's hand.
A figure in front of Susan moved - it looked like a shadowy figure of Gerald, and he was running off. "Wait up!" Susan called to the figure, who didn't slow. "Come on!" she ordered Helen, pulling the weeping girl to her feet and following the shadow figure of Gerald into the woods.
Meanwhile, Gerald, Grace and Rob managed to find each other, but Susan and Helen were nowhere to be found.
"Susan?" called Gerald, inhaling a mouthful of the cottony fog and choking. "Helen?"
"Look!" Grace said, pointing to the fog in the distance. It appeared to be Susan running off into the distance, with Helen not far behind.
"Wait!" Rob pleaded, but they didn't slow down. Not thinking twice, they ran after.
"Gerald!" Susan cried to the sprinting figure, "wait!"
Suddenly, Gerald disappeared into the fog. Susan ran faster, trying to catch up. When she got to where Gerald was last seen, she crashed into cold, swampy water, dragging Helen with her.
"Blarrrg!" they both cried, trying to struggled their way out of the murky, cold water. But plant tendrils seemed to snake around their ankles, pulling them down... down... deeper... everything went black.
# # #
"Susan!" Gerald puffed, "wait up!"
"We admit you're in better shape than we are!" Grace called with grim good humor.
Rob didn't say anything; he was having a hard time just keeping up with the twins.
"Hey, where'd Susan go?" Grace asked. "She was up there a moment ago, but now she's gone!"
"She must have run deeper into the fog!" Gerald yelled. "Come on, or we'll lose her!"
Putting on extra bursts of speed, they ran - and found themselves standing on midair. They hovered for a brief second before plummeting.
They screamed loudly, falling though empty space is not fun. But, suddenly the lightheadedness got to them... and they blacked out.
A/N: Well? Do you like? Me hopes. ::sniggers:: What do you think will happen next? ::soap announcer voice:: Stay tuned for the next exciting chapter of The Heirs of the Heirs! ^_~
~Moxie ^_^
Disclaimer: What belongs to J.K. does, what belongs to me does, and what belongs to Virgo does. Okay?