Dangerous Magic
She felt as though her whole body was on fire. Her nerves and cells twisted together agonizingly and amidst the intense pain, she vaguely felt her blood flowing backwards. Sharp pain knifed through her organs mercilessly with every of her heartbeat. For a terrifying moment, she wished her heart would stop.
Suddenly, the force burst outwards and rippled through the room like a tidal wave, shattering all of the glass ornaments in the room to dust like particles. Alex's eyes shut tighter as the force recoiled heavily within her body. She pitched forward and threw up a mouthful of blood. Darkness blinked in front of her eyes and she fell limp.
* * *
Harry gently stroked Alex's face and held her tighter. He had never felt so scared before, seeing the endless stream of blood trickling out from the side of her lips. What scared him even more was the paleness and chilliness of her skin under his fingers. He saw her chest rose and fall rhythmically with her weak, wispy breaths that seemed so faint that it was about to disappear.
He was afraid, afraid that Alex would die, just like that. Automatically, his arms around her body tightened their hold. Harry looked at Alex's ashen face, and felt a stabbing pain in his heart.
"I shouldn't have forced her to do this…" Harry chided himself. "Alex…"
As though hearing his whispers, Alex stirred in his arms. His heart jumped faster as Alex opened her eyes slowly. Seeing the glassy look of pain in her jade eyes, Harry felt another pang of guilt piercing his heart.
"Harry?" Alex muttered softly.
"How do you feel?" Harry asked. He used his sleeve and wiped away the red stain on her lips.
Alex nodded, but the tightness around her brows told otherwise. "That… That happens a lot…"
"I'm sorry," Harry apologized. When Alex gave him a puzzled look, he continued. "I shouldn't have forced you to do something as impossible as this. I... I brought this upon you…"
"Don't be silly…" Alex started, but the rest of her words are swallowed by a bout of violent coughs. She covered her mouth and Harry watched with horror as a dark red liquid dripped from between her fingers. As she pulled her hand away, he saw more blood pooled on her palm.
"Alex!"
Alex shook her head at him and tried to sit up. But, lacking the strength, she fell back into Harry's hold.
Harry was still shocked at seeing how much blood Alex had coughed out. The latter, seeing his wide eyes and stiff expression, smiled weakly.
"Is it scary?"
He jumped and looked at Alex. "What?"
"The blood," Alex explained. "I guess you don't see a lot of people throwing up blood here."
Harry shook his head. "Is there anything I can do for you? Do you have medicine here?"
Alex nodded. "Over at the white closet. Look for a green bottle."
Harry placed Alex tenderly on the floor and hurried over to the marble made closet. He found what he wanted in a flash, as there was only one green bottle in the whole closet. Then he hurried back to where Alex was lying. It looked as though her face had gone paler during the few seconds he left her. Trying to push back the fear rising in his mind, he raised Alex's upper body up and uncorked the bottle. Then, he held the bottle to Alex's lips.
When Alex had finished the whole bottle, Harry unbuttoned his cloak and wrapped it around her chilling body. He also undid her ponytail to make her more comfortable.
"Thank you…" Alex murmured.
"You're welcome," Harry replied. "Is there anything else you need?"
Alex fell silent for a moment. "Julian… Get Julian here, please?"
Harry nodded. "Alright. Rest here." After placing Alex on the ground, he walked towards the entrance.
"Harry…" Alex called out. "Not… there."
Harry turned and saw Alex pushing herself up and hurried to support her. "Don't move."
Alex leant heavily on Harry's torso. "Not the front door… Back door…" She pointed at the opposite direction.
"Back door? I don't see any…" Harry's sentence trailed off when appearing before him was a solid-looking door. "Alright… now you lie down and don't move."
After lying Alex down again, Harry ran out of the back door and appeared right beside the Fat Lady. Then, he stopped.
'Where could Julian be?'
Harry pondered for a moment. It was late afternoon, and the place Julian liked to go during this time is…
'Great Hall!' Harry snapped his fingers in triumph.
* * *
Julian was practicing with a sword in the empty Great Hall when Harry burst through the doors. "Hi Harry!"
Harry stopped sprinting and gestured to him. He was so out of breath that talking became a chore. "Ju…Julian… A…A…!"
Julian put his sword away. "Relax and take a few deep breaths." He patted Harry's back to smoothen his breathing. After a few seconds of deep breathing, Harry calmed down and was able to talk more fluently.
"Alex needs you," Harry started. "She's injured really badly at this room in the fireplace…"
Before Harry could tell Julian the exact location, the latter was already sprinting his way out of the Great Hall. Harry immediately ran after him.
* * *
(The dialogue exchange between Alex and Julian will be taking place in Chinese, thus the italics.)
His heart started hammering against his ribs. He could feel a stitch at his side, but ignored it. All he cared about was his cousin.
'Xiao Xue…' Julian bit his lips and forced himself to run faster. Harry had said that she was badly injured. How bad? What happened? Countless questions racked his brain and Julian cursed himself for not being able to run even faster.
To his relief, he saw the Fat Lady in the distance, and the familiar white door blinking beside her. The portrait did not seem to see the new door but sat down and continued reading her books. Julian took a flying leap and burst through the door.
"Xiao Xue!" Julian cried, seeing Alex lying on the floor with blood trickling out from her lips. He knelt down beside her and carried her body gently. He used his fingers and wiped away the blood on her face. At the touch, Alex opened her eyes. Her pale lips twitched upwards into a faint smile
"Cousin…" Alex whispered. Julian took her pulse and knitted his brows.
"Hush… save your strength. You had lost a lot of blood," Julian said tenderly. "Take a rest first. I'll start treating you once you feel better."
Alex looked at Julian. "Where's Harry?"
"He's on his way," Julian replied. As if on cue, Harry jumped through the door, with his face almost as red as a tomato.
"Harry…" Alex called out. Harry walked over to her and sat down opposite Julian. He was panting too heavily to talk. Sweat was pouring down his tomato of a forehead.
"Ron… Keep a look out for… Ron…" Alex warned.
Harry felt the guilt weighing on his shoulders as he nodded. "I will. Rest well. I'll tell the teachers that you are not feeling well tomorrow."
"Thank you…" Alex said, before closing her eyes for a much-desired sleep. However, her expression was still tight and somewhat forced.
While Harry and Alex were talking, Julian took out his wand, an ivory coloured one, and waved at the empty wall. Immediately, a thick mattress appeared with a pillow and blankets. Once Alex had fallen asleep, Julian carried her over to the mattress and tucked her in. He then sat down beside the mattress and watched her.
Harry looked at the motionless figure on the bed and then at Julian. A sour feeling began rising from within his heart. With a dejected sigh, Harry walked towards the back door.
"Harry," Julian called out. Harry turned back and was met with Julian's back. "If you want to come back, knock on the wall four times."
Julian knew that Harry would want to visit Alex again. He also knew what was to happen in the future. As the door closed behind Harry and disappeared, Julian saw Alex's face relaxing. Blood began streaming out her of her mouth again.
"Xiao Xue… why must you keep forcing yourself to do things you can't?" Julian asked softly as he wiped the blood from her mouth. "Why must you come here? Why can't we stay in China? Why must you go through all these?"
His hand found Alex's cold one under the blanket and he laced his fingers through hers. It had been a long time since he had held her hand.
"Xiao Xue… Why can't we be together?"
His hand tightened around hers.
"Why?"
* * *
Harry picked around his chicken chop. As much as the smell was tempting and enticing, he just cannot find the appetite to eat. He was too worried about Alex and Cho.
"Harry?"
Harry looked up and saw Ron smiling awkwardly at him. Immediately, Alex's warning rose in his head. "Ron!"
Ron was holding his tray of chicken chop. "Can I sit here?" he asked, eyeing the seat next to Harry's.
"Sure!" Harry shifted slightly to give Ron a bigger place.
A heavy silence fell between the both of them after Ron was seated. It was about ten minutes later when Ron broke the silence.
"Do you usually eat this late?"
Harry looked at his watch. It read fifteen minutes to nine. He did not even notice that until Ron pointed out how late it was.
"I... I guess so," Harry replied quietly.
"Homework, huh?"
"Yeah."
Ron fell silent. "How's your scar?"
Harry jumped at the question. Automatically, he touched the lightning bolt scar on his forehead. "It's alright now…"
"Have you seen Professor Dumbledore about it?"
Harry shook his head. Taking the opportunity, he asked. "Can you go with me?"
Ron widened his eyes at the sudden request. Then, he grinned lopsidedly. "Sure."
Harry smiled back. Then he popped the first piece of chicken chop into his mouth.
* * *
The two boys stood before the large eagle statue, half-cursing their own stupidity.
"Are we going to stand here for the next hour, guessing Dumbledore's new password?" Ron asked wearily. They had tried everything that comes to their mind, right down to the names of the Three Essences and Four Diamonds. But the eagle just glared unbendingly at them. It was already ten, and Harry was really thinking if he should give up. After all, it was a school night.
"Let's go," Harry said dejectedly. Looks like he had to leave his questions to the next school night when he had no homework.
With a disappointed heart, Harry turned. The prospect of seeing Dumbledore had temporarily pushed the thoughts about Alex and Cho out of his mind. Now that he can't see the head master, every other thought crashed onto his mind, giving him a pounding headache. The two boys walked back to the Gryffindor tower with companionable silence.
When they were approaching the Fat Lady, Harry glance at the empty wall beside the portrait. He resisted the urge to enter the room and walked past the Fat Lady. The two boys immediately head for the dormitories and Harry sank onto his four-poster without delay.
He just had his Quidditch game in the morning. Why does it seem as though the game was weeks away? Harry sighed tiredly and pulled his blanket over his head.
Perhaps tomorrow would bring better news…
* * *
He was in a very dark chamber. There was nothing but darkness all around him. However, the queer thing was he could see himself. It was as though his body was capable of producing its own light. Harry walked blindly in the abyss-like darkness, hoping to find a way out of it.
It seemed like hours since he was aware of his surroundings. He felt tired, and his feet felt worse. Harry gave up and sat down on the dark ground, massaging his aching ankles.
"…"
Harry sat up. He thought he heard something.
"Who's there?" he called out. His hand reached into his pocket for his trusty wand. But it wasn't there.
Suddenly, a dark green light burst through the surroundings, startling Harry. He saw himself in an underground chamber. Large pipes ran above his head like numerous snakes tangled together. The light only served its purpose for short distance. Harry could see things less than a metre away, anything further than that was total darkness.
Harry looked around him and felt soil on his hands. 'Wait a minute… soil?'
Harry quickly stood up. His shoes felt a softness beneath them, which means the soil was not just a layer. 'It's not a chamber! It's a tunnel!' Harry realized.
A scream pierced through the quiet surroundings, and lighted up the tunnel. Harry blinked once and again to make sure that he wasn't hallucinating. Then he pressed his abdomen to prevent his meagre amount of dinner to leave the body. Stretching before him was miles and miles of bloody bones and skulls. Some of these bones had pieces of flesh sticking on them.
Trying to keep his dinner down, Harry ran away from the spot. He did not know how long he had ran, but all he wanted to was to leave this nightmarish place. Looking at skulls and bones was one thing. Looking at bones, skulls and flesh was a different idea all together.
Harry soon came to a door. Other than that door, there did not seem to have any other way out of the place. He swallowed thickly and pushed open the door. Darkness covered his eyes again. A familiar voice drifted up to his ears. But he cannot figure out whose it was.
"Stop it… please stop it… Haven't you killed enough? Haven't enough died for you?"
There was a short pause before the voice continued.
"I miss my father… I miss having a father… and… I miss having a family… Please, stop…"
Another silence. Then, Harry heard the loudest 'thud' he had ever heard. There was a yell in pain and a muffled chorus of angry shouts and curses. But he couldn't hear them properly. Neither could he hear the name of the speaker. His eyelids were falling. He never felt so tired before. But he wanted to know the speaker. He doesn't want to fall asleep just yet. He wants to see… the speaker…
Harry finally closed his eyes and dropped to the ground.
* * *
Another chapter up!! Haha… fast isn't it? Had a strong incoming of ideas these days, so might as well put them down in black and white. ^_^ Please review!!!!!!!
~Androme
To star estrella: Thank you! About Alex being powerful, there is a reason for her being abit more powerful than normal witches/wizards. For that reason, you have to wait… =P Thank you for reading!!!
To PPC: haha… next time I put Chinese, I'll be abit more careful… ;P thanks for reading! (and… hopefully can see you online soon… ^^)
To Katani: Sorry for the delay… how's this chapter? =D