Night
Chapter 1: Silence
Cold air rushed at Lianna's cheeks as the Slytherin common room door slid open. She peered about the abandoned corridor with violently green eyes, which were almost aglow in the darkness. "Okay," she hissed over her shoulder to her unseen companion. A boy, much taller than she, emerged from the common room silently, strenuous breathing escaping his lips and a gold necklace decorated with a large emerald hanging on his neck. With a pallid face and his dark brown hair clinging to his clammy skin, he gripped her hand and let the stone wall slide closed behind him. Lianna's eyes were wide and her face pallid as well as she started down the corridor, her lips parted slightly and her long black hair sitting gracefully on her shoulders. The pair's knuckles were white as they gripped each other's hands, creeping ever so slowly through the silent castle. Then, unexpectedly in the dead silence, a suit of armor was moving. Lianna and the boy stood completely still, petrified against the stone. The knight moved aside, revealing a narrow passageway, and three bodiless voices emerged from it.
"Ouch! James that was my foot!" hissed a voice.
"Sorry!" replied another.
"Shut up! I think I see something.." Whispered a third. Lianna blanched. Please don't let us be seen...please...she prayed silently, her eyes shut tight.
"You're off your rocker, Padfoot," came a voice. "Come on, the kitchen's not too far..." And slowly the three pairs of muffled footsteps died out in the long corridor. The boy let out the breath he'd realized he was holding. Lianna wiped her sweating brow.
"Damn Gryffindors..." she muttered.
"Hey!" hissed the boy. "I'm in Gryffindor, remember?"
"Oh...right..." The two continued down the corridor, and this time they made it all the way to the grounds without the misfortunate company of others. The boy drained a vile of "Taciturnus's No-Squeak Hinge Oil" on the colossal metal Entrance Hall door hinges, and Lianna slowly opened the door with her teeth digging into her lower lip. Much to their delight, the door opened silently, and Lianna and the boy slipped through into the freezing night air. It was December; snow was slowly falling in the moonlight, and the icy surface of the lake reflected the orb's silver rays. With their breath condensing in front of their faces, the boy and the girl crept quietly over the sloping lawn, towards the forbidden forest.
Chapter 2: Darkness
Pulling their hoods over their faces, Lianna and her companion took a wary look back at the castle, which was still asleep, and turned back to the freezing tenebrosity of the forest. They clenched their teeth and set off on a path they obviously new... They carried on in the darkness for what seemed like hours, treading deeper and deeper into the forest's depths. Not daring to light their wands, the pair felt the for the path with their feet in the pitch black, finding their way ever so slowly. Abruptly a twig cracked, and they froze. Unseen in the darkness, both their faces had gone the color of the very snow that decorated the frozen grass, their hearts hammering through their chests. Another twig snapped, and Lianna grabbed her love by the shoulder, dragging him behind a large tree. Trembling from head to toe, the couple held each other behind the tree in the silence... Something was gliding over the forest floor. Footsteps. She gripped the boy's arms tighter; he was petrified, unable to move. A breeze was rustling the leaves...or was it a breeze? Someone was breathing... To both their horror, a laugh was finding its way to their infamous company's mouth. It was just a whisper of a laugh...but it was growing. The thing began to shake with a horrible, shrieking laugh, high and shrill, making Lianna feel as if the laugh had just determined her horrible fate.
"Come my dears, why are you hiding?" The voice had stopped laughing, and was now hissing through the darkness. "What reasons have you to hide?" The boy whimpered. This was it. It was it at last. They had failed.
"Come out my dears, or shall we continue on this silly game of hide-and- seek?" It was useless. He'd seen them. But they found they could not move. They were rooted to the spot, exactly like the towering tree beside them.
"Oh all right, if you insist..." The thing was drawing its wand... "Imperio!" It had shouted through the blackness, striking Lianna in the back. She went rigid. The voice had entered her mind.
"Let go of him my dear..."
"No, I don't want to," came Lianna's voice, lazy and sad-sounding.
"Why not? He'll be right there when you reach for him again..."
"All right..." came Lianna's lazy voice, and her clammy hands released her companion. At once she was released from the curse, and a scream erupted from her lips. Her arms were flailing about in front of her, trying to find him again. How had she let him go? Why had she given in?
"Lumos!" She yelled, the light from her wand dazzling her as she leapt out from behind the tree. And then she saw him. He was being dragged away from her, across the forest, kicking and screaming in the hands of two very large men and another small one following behind.
"NO!" She screamed, running at the four figures, and throwing herself at Daniel.
"Back, you silly girl!" Hissed the man, his wand reappearing from under his robes. "Crucio!" Lianna fell back in shrieking pain, every inch of her body on fire.
"NO!" She shrieked again. "NO! PLEASE!" And after what seemed like forever, the pain stopped. It was gone as quickly as it had come, and she jumped up, illuminating her wand again and peering through the darkness. She heard it. The sound of a body being dragged over the leaves, and she knew exactly where it was heading. The Slytherin sprinted after it, jumping over large logs and reaching her destination in time to see the others striding into view.
"Nox," she whispered, and she was again thrown into darkness. The sound was getting closer...She crept silently from behind the tree, knowing where she was in the darkness, and where the others were.
"Right here?" Hissed a horrible voice.
"Yes, you nitwit, right there...drag your wand..." another sickening voice answered. Lianna could almost see...one of the figures was dragging his wand down the trunk of a large tree with strange markings carved into the bark. She knew this tree well. As if the man's wand was a chainsaw, the tree was splitting in two, revealing a large hole into which the first Death Eater jumped. The second followed, and as the third approached, Lianna devised a plan. The third Death Eater was holding tightly to the wrist of Daniel, dragging him over the ground like a meaningless stuffed animal. The masked figure jumped, and so did Lianna, and she held tightly to the ankle of her love. She held on with all her might as the figure fell into the passageway, and felt him loose his grip on Daniel's wrist as he fell. She heard the man hit the bottom of the passageway quite clumsily, and she didn't waste anytime gathering Daniel up in her arms, strenuously dragging him away from the tree.
"W-where is he?" came a thick voice from inside the tree.
"I don't know, you had him!" The third Death Eater swore and Lianna could hear him climbing the ladder, back into the forest. Looking frantically around, she saw an old rotting log, and threw herself and the boy into it. Patting his cheeks, she whispered.
"Come on, come on, come on Daniel wake up..." The boy stirred, and his hand reached to wipe away the blood from his bleeding lip. He gasped in pain...Lianna's save had broken his wrist when the Death Eater had tried to pull him as he fell.
"Shh!" Lianna hissed placing a finger on his lips. They could hear the man fumbling around in the darkness, cursing as he searched for Daniel. The second man emerged from the tree as well, helping the third to look for the lost boy. And finally, to the couple's horror, the last Death Eater emerged.
Chapter 3: Promises
"How could you let this happen, you fools!" He hissed. "I'll deal with you later!" His followers paled.
"He can't be far..." the second hissed, illuminating his wand.
"Yes..." Said the first, a horrible smile spreading over his thin lips. "Come out, come out, wherever you are..." said the first Death Eater in a sing-song voice, slowly walking over to the log where Lianna and Daniel had taken refuge. Daniel looked at Lianna. This was it. He was going to die.
"Promise me Lianna!" He whispered urgently. "Promise me!"
"Promise you what?" Lianna sobbed, looking up at the brave face of her love.
"You won't forget me," He said, less urgently. He reached up to his neck, yanking the gold chain from it and handing it to Lianna. "Promise me," He said, closing in the necklace in her hand. Lianna opened her mouth to speak...
"Ahh, here we are!" Said Voldemort's voice, much too jovially for the situation. "Silly children, still playing little games," The horrible shrill laugh erupted from his disgusting throat again. "We all know that in the end, there'll be just one winner..." He raised his wand... The spell had hit Daniel with a flash of green light, and Lianna found herself an inch away from his already cold face. She looked up into the lifeless, silver eyes, clenching his stiff hand in hers, and reaching up to stroke his dark brown hair.
"I promise."