My god, it has been since forever since I updated. I mean, it's been at least a month, and I feel really bad for it, but school work and everything else…well, it's Thanksgiving, and now here are some updates to make you all smile and giggle with glee. No romance (yet); it is slightly inappropriate or incongruous (a SAT word, hell yeah go me!) to place a snog scene in the middle of a fight to the death. So, not to say there is a fight to the death, but there will be. I have lots to update. This is just a teaser into the world beyond. In fact, I have until chapter twenty-six I think written for you all. So, enjoy this scene, not really to pertaining to the plot but since I don't know the plot or have any idea where it will end, I guess this really doesn't matter!
Thank you all for seeing and reviewing my story. It's been such help and a pleasure to read your entries and to take in all your comments, questions and suggestions. I am so pleased to write such wonderful tales of woe and worry, of suspense and supremacy that you must feel the need to comment. I really am pleased with it. Now, unless I get more people to stop in and say hello, I will have to start putting a limit like some authors do…ten more and then I'll update…JUST KIDDING! Well, maybe. I don't know. Next update: talking quickly to the people updating from 43 on. So, if you update, you'll get a little note in this with my reply. How sweet! Anyway, look forward to that. And also, look forward to my reply to the movie!
Read, review, and ON WITH THE SHOW…
Chapter Twenty-One: Mysterious World
"How much further until the next corridor?" Emilia whispered tersely.
"Not much," he replied snidely. "Why?"
"Oh," she said in a tone of mock airiness, "I didn't know if you wanted to hang around Death Eaters, but we could always wait until we're caught to move."
"Jesus, and you say that I'm bad."
"What?"
"You're such a bitch sometimes."
"And damn proud of it."
"Shut up, I hear footsteps."
"What?"
"Shh-hh!" he said tersely, putting a finger to his lips. Emilia rolled her eyes, and they continued their way down the corridor and to the left. The settings were very tense, and the last thing she needed was to be caught—again—by Death Eaters. She'd had enough of them to last her five whole lifetimes.
"Minerva's in the Ravenclaw Common Room," he spoke finally, consulting his map. "I don't know why though."
Emilia looked around the corner, and saw two black-hooded figures dragging someone across the hallway. "I don't know either, but we've come a bad way," she spoke, not looking at Severus, but at the Death Eaters down the hall. She turned back to him, feeling panic build up in her again.
"What?"
"Doesn't your little map say that there are two Death Eaters right there in front of us?" she replied haughtily.
"Yes, I know," he snapped testily. "We aren't going down that way, though. Haven't you been to the Ravenclaw Common Room?"
"No, I haven't," she said, hearing the footsteps beyond. Emilia looked away, back to the oncoming Death Eaters. "But at least I—" She was interrupted by Severus grabbing her body and swinging her into a hallway inside the walls, before the Death Eaters passed, walking casually on the spot they were just standing.
"Warning, next time," she panted, catching her breath. She nearly had a heart attack—or worse, she could have screamed. Her heart was beating in her chest far faster than was healthy, and she glared at Severus, clutching her chest. "That was on purpose, wasn't it?"
"Maybe," he answered, smirking at her. "Come on, we have to go."
"Ain't this just convenient?" she said, putting one hand on her hip. "Everywhere we go there is a passage in the walls. I'm starting to think they aren't coincidences anymore."
"They aren't, you simple minded heathen," Severus answered sharply. "They were meant as quick routes to areas of trouble, and for the teachers to use to get throughout the school quietly and quickly. That's why there are so any of them." He turned his back and whispered, "Lumos!"
Emilia flipped him off from behind, scowled, and pulled out her wand herself. Of course, it did make sense. Emilia went to school here for about seven years, and she never that there was any passages herself, save the ones that the caretaker used when he wanted to bust someone doing wrong. And, the way she was in school, she never got caught doing anything wrong; she just didn't really do anything. The school was closed her entire fifth year, and after that, they opened for her sixth and seventh year; she finished her schooling in France before tutoring abroad.
They reached the end of the short hallway and Emilia was curious to see what was around the corner. She turned her head out and Severus grabbed her back, roughly.
"Ow," she said without thinking. "What'd you do that for?"
"Shut up," he snarled, and stared at the wall for a few moments, concentrating. Emilia opened her mouth to ask what the hell he was doing, and then she heard it as well.
"Where are they? I've been waiting ssso patiently, and I am ssso hungry..." Emilia's heart froze. That was the voice she had heard earlier, the one sitting next to Lord Voldemort—which could mean only one thing—
Emilia turned to Severus, and he had put his finger on his lips, indicating that she should stay very silent. Emilia bit her lip, and tried not to tremble. Right now, she was closer to Lord Voldemort than she'd like to be—and they would have been killed if she looked over.
"Masssster..." it hissed. Emilia didn't even want to know what it was. All she knew was that she could understand it. And that alone was enough to weird her out.
"Masster," it repeated, "I sssmell sssomething delicciousss..."
Her stomach plummeted. Could whatever it was smell them? She could hear Severus draw in a quick breath, and saw him pinch his lips. She waited anxiously, straining to hear the next words.
Severus's face was thoughtful for a moment, then he turned to Emilia. She looked back up at him, and saw his puzzled expression. What was the matter with him?
She turned back to the thing that hissed, and heard its sniffing breaths though the wall. She tried to think about how it could smell them…it was, after all, through the wall... Then she remembered: she was wearing perfume...and that was the smell the creature had scented…
"Oh no," she whispered lightly. Severus gave her a hard look, and motioned for her to be quiet. She shook her head at him, and covered her mouth. God, she was such an idiot sometimes. The smell wasn't so predominant anymore, but still, there was enough there to be scented. The creature started to speak again.
"It sssmellsss...from the wallssss..."
Shit! Her mind raced. Without even thinking, she started back into the corridor, and running backward down the hall whence they came. Severus rushed after her, and Emilia heard their footsteps clatter loudly in the corridor.
Emilia reached the other end of the passageway and then caught her breath. "What—what was that thing?" she panted.
"I don't know. Why did you run?" he asked, keeping his voice down, and yet still had an angry tone all the same.
"Didn't you hear what it had said?" Emilia replied sharply, sitting on the ground. She pulled off one show, and then the other. Emilia thought she could muffle some of the noise without her shoes on. She set them down on the floor near the entrance, which she hoped that she'd remember later. In fact, she knew she wasn't going to. Standing up, she reached into the pocket and tore off a bit of parchment and took out the pen she'd used earlier, writing a note.
Severus watched her. "Well, no. I have no idea what that hissing noise was all about. Obviously, you must have. Care to explain, or do you just like leaving me in the dark?"
"The latter," she said, finishing up her note and shoving the lot into the pocket.
"Now that I'm sure we are on our way to being caught—" Emilia gave him a haughty look "—do you think that your Majesty would want to try going back down there again?
"Because, as much as I like this bonding time of ours," Severus drawled on sarcastically, glaring at her, "I would also like to know what the hell is going on. Why did you just up and run—loudly, I might add—to the other end of the hall for no reason?"
"Because, Severus, that thing could smell us through the walls. If we stayed there, we would have gotten caught anyway. I figured that you might wager a few more hours of being alive. Now, unless you have another brilliant idea to get to the Ravenclaw dormitories, I am anxious to get this done so I can hopefully get some well-deserved sleep."
Severus scowled, not answering, and turned to walk down the other way. Emilia noticed he proceeded stealthily. She followed him quietly, not pursuing anymore conversation.
They were halfway through the passageway, listening intently for any more signs of Lord Voldemort and his pet, which Emilia dubbed silently, "The Thing that Hisses," when suddenly she felt something tingle on her head.
Reaching up and feeling her head, she felt a warmth tickle down onto her fingers. Looking down and catching Severus's wandlight, she saw that it was red.
Blood.
"Fuck," she whispered. She didn't remember hitting her head on anything.
Severus turned around at her outburst. He saw the blood and his eyes opened wide. Her hand was covered with red as well as the side of her face, which was starting to trickle faster down her cheek down to her chin.
"What did you do?" Severus said. Assessing the situation, he lifted up his robe and ripped off a strip of it. The bleeding needed to be stopped.
"I...I don't know..." she said, starting to feel panicky. Before, it was just that maybe she's hit something, but there was a lot of blood. But the blood felt slightly off temperature.
Her head didn't hurt either. Not like it should. Her sixth sense started to feel out. Something wasn't right.
Severus glanced at Emilia's distraught face, which was more confused than in pain. "Emilia, how does your head feel?" He was afraid she's go into shock or something. Perhaps it was a subdermal hematoma, he thought quickly.
"Fine," she replied. "Oddly enough, fine."
"Then what the—" Severus tried to say, then stopped, both of them realizing something at the same time. The two of them looked up, Emilia feeling the warm sensation again on her head.
In a hole above them, there hung a dead body, its blood dripping down.
And protruding from the wound above, a set of fangs.