Chapter Three: A Walk Into Dark Places

Dark. So dark. And cold. Somewhere, someone was laughing. At...him?

Harry stopped walking abruptly. He could tell that something wasn't right.

The hallway lengthened, and grew dark around him. Silky spectres flung themselves out from the walls, and began to entwine around him. They were chanting something, and he couldn't catch all of it. "You...little one...dark...you will...delve into ...understand...thing...long last."

"What? Who...what are you? What are you trying to tell me?" he asked the spectres.

"Ahh...easy...much...too...easy...if...told...outright...guess...guess...guess..." the spectres continued to chant this last word, until Harry could take it no longer stand it.

"IS THERE SOMETHING THAT I SHOULD KNOW? SOMETHING IMPORTANT?" bellowed Harry.

"Close...so...very...close..." whispered several the spectres, their voices intimidating Harry, and warning him not to yell again.

"Has it got something to do with Voldemort?" whispered Harry.

"Yes...good...clever...boy..." replied the spectre, in an eerier tone than normal.

"Is he...Is he planning something?" asked Harry timidly.

"Yes..." answered one of the spectres.

"What is he planning?" enquired Harry

"Cannot...say...boy...cannot...say..." answered a spectre that was furthest away from Harry.

"Why not?" asked Harry, his fear replaced by curiosity.

"Bound...by...oath...and...spell" replied all of the spectres.

"O...k..." said Harry.

"Go...now...we...must...We...are...called...and...must...obey...Goodbye...boy...We...wish...luck...follows...you..." said the spectres, as they began to flow back into the walls.

"Wait! I have more questions!" said Harry urgently.

"No...time...Luck...be...with you..." said the final spectre, just before it disappeared into the wall.

The darkness disappeared, and the hallway returned. There were people around Harry, staring at him as though he had just gone mad and started writing inane comments all over the walls.

Harry turned around and saw Ron walking towards him. "Hey, Ron, what's going on?" asked Harry.

"I was just about to ask you the same thing," answered Ron.

"Didn't you see them? Didn't you hear them?" asked Harry.

"Oh god. Not more things that no one else can see. Harry, didn't you learn your lesson in Second year?"

"What? Oh, yeah. I did, I swear I did Ron!" replied Harry.

"Are you sure? What di-"

"They were these weird silvery things," said Harry, cutting Ron off in mid sentence. "And they said that Voldemort was returning," Ron flinched. "But they couldn't exactly say. It was kinda like Dobby and the Chamber."

"I think we should move Harry," replied Ron.

"Yeah, ok...lets go see Dumbledore!" said Harry.

Harry was already halfway down the corridor before he realised Ron wasn't following him. "Well? Aren't you coming?" asked Harry.

"Yeah, I'm coming!" grumbled Ron.