This is Magnolia again.
Tom can be so fussy. This is him: "I cannot believe you're going outside the grounds when a threatening message was mysteriously written on the wall!" "I can't believe I agreed to come with you, this is highly dangerous!"
But he DID come.
And complained most of the time.
So we came back inside as soon as we left the castle. We agreed to explore only INSIDE the school. Tom wasn't fussing and worrying anymore. Thank goodness.
We walked around the secret passages, and rooms that needed a password (and of course we knew all the passwords). And guess who we just happened to meet in the 2nd floor, East hallway. Of all people. Guess.
Poseidon. Lila's stupid and furious selfish date to the Hufflepuff Dance.
And now, what do you think he was doing?
"... I will make her pay, I'll make her pay so much she'll be scarred for life..." he was mumbling.
"Ahem, make WHO pay, Poseidon?" Tom asked, and Poseidon finally noticed we were here.
"Nothing, nobody." Poseidon said with a sheepish smile.
He was hiding something behind his back. So I elbowed Lila carefully and moved my head towards Poseidon, to give her a sign. She nodded.
"What are you hiding, Poseidon?" she asked cautiously.
"What do you care?" he replied harshly. We were all surprised to hear a Prefect talk that way. Especially to the girl he likes. That was unexpected. But NOT the most startling part of the night, oh no, definitely not...
"Watch your language, Poseidon." Tom decided to say.
"NO, I WILL NOT BE SPOKEN TO LIKE THAT!" he screamed.
He did something we'll never forget and we'll never forgive.
He shot a spell at Tom and made him disappear. (No, that's not the worst part.)
All the while, Poseidon was LAUGHING. Insanely.
"I have listened to my Master. He will be extremely proud of having SUCH a devoted servant at Hogwarts. Not to mention a brave one too. And I will be prized above the rest. Because I, Poseidon Griswold, managed to find new members... And you all are PERFECT for the job... and we will enjoy having you with us..." he said.
The same thought went through our minds: "What the heck???????"
Then, OH NO, I get it. I understand it all, it only makes sense. Why is Poseidon roaming hallways at night? Probably to write another Dark Lord message on the wall as he did LAST NIGHT! Doesn't it make sense? And when he says "Master" he means "Dark Lord." And NOW I could decipher the rest of his speech. ((Okay, at that time, there was another Dark Lord, less mighty than Voldemort half a century later, but there was))
"Oh--my--goodness--" I breathed out.
Poseidon smirked evilly, and said, "Will you join us, Magnolia? You've understood, I believe?"
I stepped back. "NO, I WILL NOT BECOME A DEATH EATER!" I shouted.
NOW the others got it too. We all screamed disagreements at the same time, and finally Poseidon silenced us with a sign of his hand.
"Then, your deary little sweetheart Tom will have to suffer." he said casually.
A wave of his wand, and Tom reappears, tightly wrapped in chains.
Of course, I hurry up to him and kneel down beside him, holding his head off the cold hard floor. He struggled and looked exhausted from fighting the chains.
"Oh, Tom, are you okay? He won't hurt you, we won't let him --" I babbled.
"Oh, how very touching," Poseidon mocked a sad voice, "but you leave me no choice. Fall into my precious little trap... join us Death Members, or your darling little Slyth Prefect will ache the wrath of my Crutacius Curse..." ((Death Eaters had another name because it wasn't Voldemort's group))
NOW we were completely alarmed and freaked out. What COULD we do??? We had to choose fast, and make the RIGHT choice, a choice that would leave everyone unharmed... but that was absolutely impossible!