Disclaimer: All characters and contexts from the Harry Potter books belong to J.K. Rowling.
A/N: Ok, this is one of the most boring, confusing, pointless pieces I have ever written, but unfortunately this chapter is kind of essential for the ending to work. So I am really sorry for anyone who has been looking forward to this - you're going to suffer a severe disappointment. I also developed a strong case of writer's block halfway through the first page, so my apologies again for the crapness of this chapter.
Chapter 7 : Haunted by Truth
The girl was running in the snow, in a big open field of snow…flash…pine trees were around her…the more she ran the more densely gathered the trees became…flash…she pushed branches out of the way as they grabbed her hair, which was flying in every direction, caught in the wind…flash…She tripped over a rock…flash…she picked herself up and kept running, too scared to focus on any of the rocks, because she knew what terror lurked within…flash…another vision kept flashing into her mind as she ran, terrified, through the forest of pine trees, soft, white snow flying out from under her feet and landing in the ground behind her with crashes like thunder.
There was a room. A cold, dark, empty room made of stone…no doors, no windows. The room was damp, and haunted thoughts echoed off the walls, chilling screams of doom penetrated the atmosphere…and on the mouldy, blood strewn floor was a boy. He was curled up in a corner, hiding from the light. This vision came in a haze of red, stayed for a second and disappeared once more, being replaced with the vision of Beni running hastily through the trees, but never getting anywhere.
Suddenly Beni was the girl, running rapidly through the trees, occasionally tripping over, always to scared to look at the rocks…too scared of the eyes…and then she tripped again, landing on the ground heavily, bouncing back up into the air and then landing again, sliding along the snow, screaming, her head hit a rock and lolled hopelessly. She rolled over and came face to face with the eyes once more. They opened, and Beni backed away screaming and crying, pain piercing her heart. The eyes opened…
They were midnight red, darker than blood, almost black, there was no pupil, no iris, not even a trace of white…the red eyes were surrounded by black…endless, consuming blackness…
Beni sat up, puffing. She climbed out of bed and crossed to the window in her dorm, where she sat, staring out onto the Hogwarts grounds. What had that dream been about? Did it have anything to do with the vision she had seen the day before, or was she just dreaming about the vision?
She didn't know, and the lack of knowledge frustrated her. She looked carefully over the Hogwarts grounds, staring shrewdly at any of the rocks she could see. Why rocks? What was with the rocks?
No eyes appeared on the rocks, just as Beni had expected. It was probably some dumb nightmare…she turned and stalked away from the window, as the winter's first tiny snowflake landed on the glass.
She sat on her bed reading until the morning, when everybody else woke to a light snow. She glared silently at the other girls in her dorm as they attempted to move past her inconspicuously on their way down to breakfast. When they had all gone, Beni retrieved her book from underneath her bed and began reading again. Her mother had given her the thick, leather bound book when Beni was younger, and she had never needed to consult it before now. It was like a dream book, it helped to interpret indistinguishable or hidden meanings in visions, and in this case, Beni's dream.
She looked over the yellowing pages for hours, but everything seemed so vague - the things in the dream and the answers the book gave her. Agitated, she slammed the book shut and threw it into her trunk, storming out of the dorm.
She went to the dungeon where her crystal ball was, the atmosphere heavy with the sick feeling of dread. She moved further into the room, depression settling in over her heart. She sat down on the stone floor, ignoring the coldness. She stared at the crystal, and again she only saw the one vision - nothing else. Nothing in the future, the present or the past, not the usual variety of visions she saw - just one, dark, chilling picture looming against the glass.
She saw the boy in the room again, he didn't move, he didn't utter a sound, he didn't appear to be breathing - but he was alive. Beni hated that room, that disgusting, cold, mouldy room that generated a sense of hurt, hatred and blind fury.
Abruptly, she saw the girl once more, running ever faster across the snow. She didn't need to focus on the rocks to see the eyes, the blood red, glaring eyes, they stared at her from everywhere now, haunting her, following her, the constant drone that escaped their invisible bodies chasing her…
She finally approached a castle, ancient and domineering, the one she recognised to be Hogwarts. The girl pushed open the huge wooden doors and stepped into the entrance hall, the eyes disappearing unexpectedly, but the drone followed her.
Beni watched as the girl walked down a corridor, her heart thumped as she looked through the girls eyes. The corridor was dark, blackness was everywhere, consuming everything…the atmosphere was stuffy, combined with the blackness, it was hard to breathe, hard to hear, to see and to feel…but the girl kept walking, she didn't blink, she made no small movements, just kept walking…all of the feelings of anger, frustration, irritation and agitation multiplied in this corridor, filling the darkness, yet it was still empty, screaming into the girls ears, yet everything was quiet, scratching and tearing at her, yet she felt nothing…
The girl turned a sudden corner and began to walk down the next corridor, gliding slowly down the rough, uneven pathway. A green glow illuminated her way, filling the crevices in the walls and the floor, penetrating…hate…the sour, bitter hate swirled through the green light, dancing beautifully like wisps of silvery smoke. The dull thump of the girls heart beat sped up, creating a fast paced, uneven rhythm, sounding like thunder as it swelled against the walls and clashed with the hate, the green light hiding all…and still the girl walked forward, terrified, fear increasing with each involuntary step she took…
Once more she turned a sharp corner, it was like walking through a hot bubble of water, for a split second everything was white and calm, and then she stepped into the next corridor, a blinding red light hitting her, she fell to the ground, clutching helplessly at her heart and neck, pain overtaking her body, her silent screams somehow matching the climax of the cursed screams that echoed off the walls, filling her ears, causing more pain.
She crawled powerlessly, futile and forlorn over the cold stone floor, an acute match to the floor that Beni sat frozen upon as she watched, feeling the girl's pain ruthlessly attacking her, watching as the girl continued to scream silently, one long, continuous scream, as she crawled along the ground…her tears of pain falling constantly, no longer suppressing the hurt inside…
The girl stopped at a door halfway down the horror-filled corridor, stood up shakily and turned the handle, falling inside. She looked around, the room was made of stone, there were no windows, hence there was no light, only darkness…the dampness mingled with mould, it was disgusting, cold and eerie, blood covered the floor. The girl shuddered as a gush of the air from the room hit her, making the door slam shut behind her, her ears suddenly open to the screams of doom that pierced the emptiness.
Her eyes travelled around the room, and she found a boy, coiled in a dark, putrid corner. The girl stared at the boy - there was something familiar about him. Suddenly, the boy turned to face her, and his eyes opened. The girl screamed, the sight of his eyes mortifying her - his eyes were midnight red, no pupil, no iris - not even a trace of white, staring at her…
And then blood spurted from his eyes, showing the floor, mingling with her screams, the blood poured down his face, dripping off the walls…
Constantly dripping, the pace increasing, faster and faster, a thunderous heartbeat, enveloping them both, as well as the girls screams, and the blood from the boys eyes quietly suffocating her…silencing her screams…and then the girl realised who the boy was, just as Beni realised what everything meant.
Beni and the girl fell to the floor simultaneously, both unconscious, the truth haunting them both…
* * * * *
Beni woke face down in the snow, the vision still playing itself over in her mind. She couldn't remember how she got from the dungeon to the snow covered field next to the quidditch pitch, or how long she'd been lying there in the snow. She picked herself up, brushing the snow from her robes, when she recognised where she was.
She began to run towards the castle, faster and faster across the field, aware of the pine trees around her and the dense scattering of rocks in the snow. Her heart beat faster and faster, hurting from the force. She didn't dare to look at the rocks, already petrified by the eyes that she'd been seeing in the visions and the dream. She came to a small wooden fence, and jumped it, plunging into the forest of trees, thinking about the visions.
She knew what it all meant now…how could she have been so blind before? Everything spelt out the same thing - the eyes, the blood, the boy and the girl, the girl was Beni - of course, she had to be. In the visions Beni could always see and feel what the girl was seeing and feeling, and the eyes…there was no questioning what they meant…death. Someone was going to try to kill her, someone symbolized by the boy…and they were going to try and kill her soon…
She flew through the forest, terrified, the trees grabbing at her long, burnt hair, tearing at her robes and scratching her face. Then she tripped - coming face to face with a pair of midnight red eyes…her heart began to pump faster, but she had expected that, so she kept running, a red haze settling over everything…
She calmed down a little as she reached the castle, pushed open the heavy, oak door and stepped inside, the reassuring protection of the Hogwarts castle settling in. She stopped running, and began to walk swiftly towards the place she knew she could find the one person who could help her…she knew that she couldn't go through this alone.