9

The Cave

Adrienne and Draco stood in awkward silence, awaiting an answer to an unspoken question. Draco sighed and turned to Adrienne. He placed his hands on her shoulders and broke the silence, "I think we should keep this quiet for a while." Adrienne didn't know what to think of this, but she was definitely hurt. Her facial expression at first was deeply saddened, but then her eyes narrowed. She smacked Draco's hands off her shoulders and stormed into the castle, taking a seat between Ron and Katty.

Hermione sat across from Adrienne, looking puzzled. "What's wrong?" she asked Adrienne, who was piling mashed potatoes onto her plate. She stopped and put the spoon back into the bowl. She placed her hands neatly on her lap, looked up and smiled brightly at Hermione.

"Oh nothing, Malfoy's just being a PRAT again!" she spoke just loud enough for him to hear as he passed the Gryffindor table. He opened his mouth to fire a retort when they heard a stern, older voice behind them.

"Mr. Malfoy, if you would kindly take your seat," Professor McGonagall said calmly. She knew how to handle boys like Draco Malfoy. Draco opened his mouth again, but reluctantly shut it again and stormed off, glaring at Adrienne in the process. She gladly returned the look. Hermione sniggered as Adrienne piled even more good onto her plate.

Katty spoke first. "Ri? Sweetie? You know that really hot shirt that has one long sleeve and the straps across the stomach in replace of actual fabric?" She said cautiously.

"Yes, you may borrow it." Adrienne took another bite of her steak.

"No, no, I don't mean that. Er…. do you ever want to wear it again?"

"Of course I do, what are you-" Adrienne looked down at her plate. "Oh… yeah. Here Ron, have fun." She began piling the food onto Ron's plate. Hermione giggled, making Ron blush.

Adrienne had a tendency to compulsively over eat when she got upset. She gave a weak half smile and muttered "I'm full," to the people around her, staring. She tried to avoid their gazes by staring at her hands in her lap. She was extra careful to try and avoid Draco's eyes. After about six minutes of success, however, she knew she couldn't hold out much longer. She drained her pumpkin juice, took a deep breath, and met Draco's gaze.

She attempted to glare, get up, and dramatically leave the Hall, but she could not. Her body was unmovable, separated from her control. She felt no worry, no doubt, not even anger. She was flying.

But as soon as the feeling arrive, it disappeared. It was quickly replaced by a feeling of utter terror, happiness turned to sadness, flying turned to falling, and the light around her a few seconds ago had gone, and darkness stood in its place. Her screams pierced the air, but were unheard and unanswered. She kicked and punched out, hitting nothing. A chill ran through her body and caused her to stop. She opened her eyes to see the ceiling of a damp cave. A water droplet fell on her already tear-stained face. She smelled salt and look to her right. She saw the ocean rise and fall softly on the rocky beach she now lay on. The water hit her arm and sent another chill through her body.

Where am I? she asked herself. Adrienne turned towards the mouth of the cave and saw firelight dancing on one of the back walls of a tunnel. She began to walk towards the firelight, drawing herself deeper into the cave. The further she went into the cave, the more she knew that something or someone evil was here. She heard voices, just barely understandable.

"The plan has gone successfully, my Lord. Apart from that one hitch of course," a squeaky, scared voice said.

"Let us make sure that that would be the only mistake Wormtail," a slithering, hissing voice answered. "Lucky for Zabini, the mistake he made actually worked much better than my original plan." It cackled. "Get Nagini!" The slithery voice demanded.

"Yes master!" 'Wormtail' squeaked; by the sound of it, he rushed around and knocked quite a few things over.

'My Lord?' she thought. Surely her can't mean Lord Voldemort. Adrienne gasped at the thought. Did they hear me scream? Do they know I'm here? She ducked her head inside the cave to see who these people were.

She saw a short, fat man with bucked teeth and small, beady eyes. His clothes were in rags and he reminded Adrienne of kind of a rat of mouse. He was clumsy and kept knocking things over. Adrienne had to stifle a laugh once of twice.

But the second man was no laughing matter. She knew instantly that this was You-Know-Who. "Wormtail!" he snapped. "I need to be fed!" When he spoke it sent chills up and down Adrienne's spine. It was more of hissing then speaking. She could tell that he was a deathly skinny man. His face was covered with the hood of his purple silk cloak. His face was dark except his glowing red eyes. Adrienne was captured by them, and stepped into the cave fully. She was not hidden in any way now, and it wasn't until Wormtail was staring straight at her did she realize this.

Adrienne let out a small yelp and tried to run back out of the cave, but tripped over a small rock. As Wormtail neared her, her heart began to beat faster and faster. Wormtail glared towards her and reached out a hand, ready to grab. As his hand neared her, she let out a scream.

"Adrienne! Adrienne wake up!"

Adrienne opened her eyes wide, breathing heavily. She looked around frantically, looking for Wormtail or You-Know-Who. All she found was her and her friends crowding around her in the hospital wing.

"What? What happened? Why am I here, where's the cave, where's Wormtail?" Harry's head shot up at the sound of Wormtail's name. He ran over from his place in the corner and slid in to her left.

"You saw Wormtail?" he looked worried, yet excited to hear this. Adrienne nodded slowly. How does he know Wormtail? she thought.

"I had such a weird dream. I woke up in a cave, right on the edge. The opening was right no the edge of the ocean. The waves were small, they woke up splashing against me. I turned towards the inside of the cave and I saw firelight on the walls, so I went in to investigate. I heard voices, they were talking of a plan…." her voice trailed off trying to think of what they meant.

Katty noticed that she had stopped speaking. She asked, "Who is they?" to get Adrienne talking again. Adrienne looked up with a grin look on her face.

"A man named Wormtail, who answered like a slave to another man, whom I am sure was the Dark Lord." Katty squeaked in shock and fear, Harry zoned out for a moment to think.

"What happened then?" Draco asked, getting in on the other side of her.

"I saw You-Know-Who," Harry's head raised again. "I got transfixed in his eyes, and I stepped into plain sight. Then Wormtail tried to grab me and I screamed then woke up."

"What happened before the dream?" Draco asked. Peculiar question.

"What do you mean?" Adrienne asked.

"Why do you think you're here?" Adrienne shook her head and looked around. "You were fine until you fell back and then started screaming and hitting at the air. Then you just stopped dead and completely passed out."

"But why did that happen, do any of you know?" Adrienne looked each person in the eye, but all looked clueless.

"I know," Hermione stepped out from behind Ron. "Someone poisoned you."