bChapter 4/bp
i--a cold stone. So cold...so hard...so many...hailstones the size of nickels bruised young Amy's tender cheeks. She tried hard to fight back tears, but salty droplets welled up in her eyes. She gasped as the hailstones grew to the size of quarters. High, cold laughter echoed all around her. What was so funny? She wondered, on the verge of crying.p
A rapid silver breeze suddenly swept her up. She screamed. She felt so heavy, and this breeze so light...p
"You always did prefer doing things hastily over doing them perfectly, Tom." a quiet yet powerful voice whispered into the stark night, seeming to cut the chill.p
"It's VOLDEMORT you old fool!" the voice of a madman returned it.p
"If I were you I wouldn't call me a fool. Not in these circumstances, when my ground is less than a mile away and you have no followers about you."p
Amy quivered, still afloat. But she was warm and she could almost feel her bruises getting better...like warm liquid healing washing her...she caught a brief blimpse of a magnificent bird.p
Voldemort laughed, but his laugh wasn't high and cold, only cold and sort of nervous sounding. "Try and get me then old man!" And in a wink he'd Apparated away.p
The old man shook his head regretfully. Turning toward Amy, he said gently, "I'm not sure if you can understand this, but your parents are gone and won't ever come back. But there is a way for you to get back at Voldemort. Will you come with me?"p
Amy looked up into his crinkly eyes, which were alight with a keen sparkle. Somehow, she knew he was to be trusted. She put her hand into his knarled one and whispered solemnly, "What must I do?"p/i
"Argh! Geroff Sniper!!" A small albino snake refrained from licking Amy's face any more. Amy looked at her clock, which showed the short hand on the eleven, close to the twelve, and the long hand on the ten.p
Amy slid her robes on and grabbed her invisibility cloak from her trunk. No memory of a dream was even in her mind. Her slippered feet padded down the stairs and into the common room.p
Draco Malfoy sat on a counch, stroking a dark green snake. The snake suddenly moved from its trance. "What is it Acerbus?" Draco asked, disturbed.p
Amy hardly dared to move. Acerbus, which meant "darkness" in Latin, was staring straight at her flicking his forked tongue.p
Acerbus slithered toward Amy calmly, though it's hard to tell with a snake.p
Amy's instinct was to hold still. Perfectly still. And then she realized that Draco could not see her. So she ran.p
iThud/i.p
Amy was not agile enough to keep from tripping over Acerbus. Her cloak slid off and she was revealed, in her nightgown, for all to see.p
"Well, well, well. What have we here?" Draco picked up the sleek cloak before Amy could reach it. He eyed Amy curiously, in a quite relaxed an overall infuriating manner.p
"Give it back, Malfoy." Amy said icily.p
"I don't believe I shall do that...would you like me to help you up?" He yanked her up on her feet before she could protest.p
Amy stared up into his icy blue eyes, his shock of white-blonde hair. His eyes were actually quite peculiar. Before they had always seemed icy blue, but sometimes they seemed a more gentle blue, like a small icicle. And sometimes they were a defiant blue. Like now, the eerie cerulean blue of an Antarctic iceberg. She was unaware that she was leaning in for a closer look at those enticing irises.p
And suddenly they were kissing. To her surprise Amy realize both she and Malfoy were not pulling away appalled. He put his arms around her bare shoulders...p
Amy yanked the cloak out of his hands in sudden realization. "I--I gotta go." She ran.p
i--a cold stone. So cold...so hard...so many...hailstones the size of nickels bruised young Amy's tender cheeks. She tried hard to fight back tears, but salty droplets welled up in her eyes. She gasped as the hailstones grew to the size of quarters. High, cold laughter echoed all around her. What was so funny? She wondered, on the verge of crying.p
A rapid silver breeze suddenly swept her up. She screamed. She felt so heavy, and this breeze so light...p
"You always did prefer doing things hastily over doing them perfectly, Tom." a quiet yet powerful voice whispered into the stark night, seeming to cut the chill.p
"It's VOLDEMORT you old fool!" the voice of a madman returned it.p
"If I were you I wouldn't call me a fool. Not in these circumstances, when my ground is less than a mile away and you have no followers about you."p
Amy quivered, still afloat. But she was warm and she could almost feel her bruises getting better...like warm liquid healing washing her...she caught a brief blimpse of a magnificent bird.p
Voldemort laughed, but his laugh wasn't high and cold, only cold and sort of nervous sounding. "Try and get me then old man!" And in a wink he'd Apparated away.p
The old man shook his head regretfully. Turning toward Amy, he said gently, "I'm not sure if you can understand this, but your parents are gone and won't ever come back. But there is a way for you to get back at Voldemort. Will you come with me?"p
Amy looked up into his crinkly eyes, which were alight with a keen sparkle. Somehow, she knew he was to be trusted. She put her hand into his knarled one and whispered solemnly, "What must I do?"p/i
"Argh! Geroff Sniper!!" A small albino snake refrained from licking Amy's face any more. Amy looked at her clock, which showed the short hand on the eleven, close to the twelve, and the long hand on the ten.p
Amy slid her robes on and grabbed her invisibility cloak from her trunk. No memory of a dream was even in her mind. Her slippered feet padded down the stairs and into the common room.p
Draco Malfoy sat on a counch, stroking a dark green snake. The snake suddenly moved from its trance. "What is it Acerbus?" Draco asked, disturbed.p
Amy hardly dared to move. Acerbus, which meant "darkness" in Latin, was staring straight at her flicking his forked tongue.p
Acerbus slithered toward Amy calmly, though it's hard to tell with a snake.p
Amy's instinct was to hold still. Perfectly still. And then she realized that Draco could not see her. So she ran.p
iThud/i.p
Amy was not agile enough to keep from tripping over Acerbus. Her cloak slid off and she was revealed, in her nightgown, for all to see.p
"Well, well, well. What have we here?" Draco picked up the sleek cloak before Amy could reach it. He eyed Amy curiously, in a quite relaxed an overall infuriating manner.p
"Give it back, Malfoy." Amy said icily.p
"I don't believe I shall do that...would you like me to help you up?" He yanked her up on her feet before she could protest.p
Amy stared up into his icy blue eyes, his shock of white-blonde hair. His eyes were actually quite peculiar. Before they had always seemed icy blue, but sometimes they seemed a more gentle blue, like a small icicle. And sometimes they were a defiant blue. Like now, the eerie cerulean blue of an Antarctic iceberg. She was unaware that she was leaning in for a closer look at those enticing irises.p
And suddenly they were kissing. To her surprise Amy realize both she and Malfoy were not pulling away appalled. He put his arms around her bare shoulders...p
Amy yanked the cloak out of his hands in sudden realization. "I--I gotta go." She ran.p