Disclaimer : - The world of Harry Potter isn't mine – wish it was – but belongs to JK Rowling…  anything from the books is hers not mine…. Anything else is probably mine.  Not getting anything but fun from writing this etc etc etc….

The fic is Rate R …..  if you are not old enough to read it etc then please don't

Spanning the River of Blood

By Ridley-Roo

Chapter 6 –  Enter the Shadow

Every face in the room turned to look at her.  She simply looked back.  'Well I assure you, my dear, that we will be very pleased to have you as our guest,' Dumbledore's voice cut through the silence.  'And what about you, Miss Wilson?'

Katrina was still looking at Layla's face and ignored his question.  The silence stretched and still she didn't answer.

'It's ok.  You go home and cover my back….'  Layla reached out and gripped her friend's hand.  'Besides someone'll have to pick up my mail.'

Slowly Katrina nodded, then reached out and picking up her guitar, held it out to her friend.  'He's got a few more dints now but I'll swap you for your house keys!'  The laughter which erupted from both women at this seemed strange in the silence, but that didn't stop them collapsing into a fit of giggles. 

'Come on lets get you home.'  Layla stood and placed the guitar, complete with dints from their fall in the cavern earlier, onto the chair and headed across the room and through the secret entrance to the stairwell leading down to the cavern.  Katrina was only a step behind and so neither woman saw the stares directed at the wall when they disappeared.

McGonagall took a deep breath to speak but was cut off by Dumbledore who raised his hand to silence her before she could make a noise.  'I assure you Minerva that all will be explained later.  Now if you don't mind, I think I would like to see what our guests are up to.'  He raised himself out of the chair and followed the two women, murmuring the spell to open the wards to the entrance before he reached the wall.

Layla and Katrina reached the bottom of the stairs ahead of the witches and wizards and headed out towards the concentrator.  'Can you make that thing work?' Katrina asked as they neared the platform.  She looked over at Layla who shrugged her shoulders in response and started to study the object in front of them.  Katrina watched as her friends face took on the characteristic glaze it had when she was seeing more than the physical world.

'Looks like it connects you to where you want to go.  Presumably you need to feed it some energy to get it going, then direct it to your destination.  I suppose all we can do is give it a go.'

Katrina nodded and stood back slightly as Layla sent her awareness down into the bowels of the earth.  There it touched on the earth force, the raw energy of the planet, and she started to draw it up towards herself.  As she breathed in she drew the energy into her body.  As she breathed out she held the energy inside and combined it with her own.  After 4 breaths her body was full with the pulsing silver blue light of the earth and she raised her right arm ready to direct it towards the concentrator.  The others had arrived by now but Layla was oblivious of them as she took another breath and sent the energy out with the intention of finding her home.

For the second time in one day the concentrator started to spin, glowing with the energy it was being fed.  She was wholly concentrating on directing it home now and didn't hear the gasps behind her.  Just a little more and she would be there, she could feel it.  An image started to form of a mid-terraced house; it wavered for a few seconds and then solidified into a clear picture.

Layla turned towards her departing companion and handed her keys to the house in the image over.  'And don't forget to feed the fish!'  Katrina took them and smiled.  She knew her friend was frightened and although she wanted to help, but she knew she couldn't do that here.  Reaching out she embraced Layla and felt her body go limp.  The onlookers rushed forward but the raven haired woman was unconscious by the time they reached her.

Everyone was crowding around the slumped form of Layla Green when the dark shape came out of the image in the concentrator.  No one saw it move silently into the darkness of the cavern.  No one saw it as it crouched down to watch the group.  No one saw how it sniffed the air before heading off further into the darkness.

A/N – there's a button down here – see it says submit review…..  go on…. You know you want to….