Chapter 2: Starry, Starry Corridor

I was seriously beginning to think my mind was being destroyed, my brain cells fading away, one by one. I couldn't seem to think of anything but the pending war. Sometimes I was so absorbed in my thoughts that I forgot to match my socks, or grab my schoolbag on the way out the door, or I even forget to chew my food sometimes at meals. That definitely doesn't look very attractive, either, let me tell you.

And people were starting to act strange around me. Especially the Slytherins. A select few of them were constantly glancing at me slightly fearfully. What I missed, I have no idea. It may just be that I'm extremely intimidating and they're terrified of me. That's right, you dirty death-eaters. Be afraid...very afraid. Grawr. No, seriously, it was creeping me out. Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall are also being very different near me. They seemed to be keeping a closer eye on me than usual, as if they're afraid I might do something illegal. Like, curse Malfoy into oblivion. Which I very well might do if I can't figure out why he's forever looking at me like I might snap at any second and kill him. Nah. As much as I'd love to, it's definitely not going to happen.

All this was happening, along with my schoolwork for my N.E.W.T. classes and private lessons from Dumbledore (with Harry and Ron) for dueling, and Professor McGonagall teaching me how to feel other peoples' emotions, or read their auras. Oh, and did I mention my head duties? Seventh year was tough, and it wasn't getting any easier. And it was only three weeks into the term.

It was September 23 that my story begins, on a lovely fall day. You'd be crazy not to be outside, enjoying the gentle autumn breeze. Either you were legally insane, or were rushing to Potions after waking up much too late. Which was exactly what I was doing at the moment. My hair was an absolute mess, I was hungry, and I was late. What a way to start out the day! I reached the potions classroom about ten seconds after it started, but, of course, Professor Snape had to make a spectacle out of it.

"5,000 points from Gryffindor, because you're 2 seconds late. Oh, and take off another 200 points because you're friends with Potter. Oh, yes, and Miss Granger? You have an eyelash, there on your cheek...a little more to the left...Yes that's it. Now another 2 million points off for wasting class time."

Well, yes, that's a bit dramatized, but that's what he really wants to do. I can tell by the way he looks at all of us Gryffindors like we're scum. That's new. I used to constantly scold Harry and Ron for making comments like that against Snape, trying to convince them that he's on our side. It's still true, of course, but that doesn't make him any less of a prat. And I'm fully fed up with him. But that's completely beside the point. Back to the story...

He really only took 15 points from Gryffindor, so I just sighed and sat down next to Harry. But he wasn't the same Harry. Since fifth year, and Sirius's death, he had become an empty shell of a boy. He acted normally in private, when it was just Him, Ron, and I, but he was somewhat of a recluse in public. He never talked to anyone if he could help it. And in a way, I think that makes him stronger. I know what goes on in his mind while he's silently eating his dinner, or gazing into the fire in the common room. Nothing. He practices occlumency constantly. He's determined to never allow his mind to be tricked again. After the incident with Sirius, he has been studying routinely with Dumbledore to improve his occlumency. And I'm almost positive he's perfected it. He makes me so proud.

Wait, where was I? Oh, yes, potions. It passed by normally. We made a potion and took notes, the occasional ten points was taken off of for Gryffindors being regular idiots, and it ended, right on time. At the bell, I got up out of my seat, but when I turned to get my bag, I saw Malfoy looking at me again. Except it wasn't a fearful, "Please don't murder me," look, but more of a, "I'm Malfoy, bow down to me," kind of look. It was the mischievous and arrogant look that I'm used to. Just not recently. Something was up, and I had to find out what it was. Damn my Gryffindor instincts.

So I followed Malfoy as he left the class. He must have noticed me coming, because he sped up a little as we walked down the halls. Then the fun part came.

He would occasionally take a turn down some other corridor, and I would follow him, only to not see him in the corridor. Then I'd turn around and see him running back the way we came. This was getting really annoying. He'd do the same thing with classrooms and secret passages. I don't even know why he was running from me. Eventually, we turned down this narrow passageway that I'd never seen before, a concealed door hidden by a tapestry. Malfoy disappeared behind the tapestry, and I ran through the door that had been left ajar. Right into the trap Malfoy had set for me.

As I was heading cautiously down the path, I heard Malfoy laugh somewhere behind me. I saw him standing at the door, encased in a halo of light from the torches behind him. It was a beautiful sight. Or, it would have been. If it had been anyone but Malfoy standing there. And then the door slammed shut, blocking out all light. And the door was locked tight. I tried a few spells, but to no avail. So I turned and walked down the narrow little pathway. And from that point on, I was lost.

The corridor was completely black, and it had little magical stars dotting all the walls, the ceiling, and the floor. It was gorgeous, but very dark. I wandered aimlessly around the twinkling hallway until I gasped suddenly. I had just remembered that I was a witch. Shaking my head at my own stupidity, I pulled out my wand and whispered, "Lumos."

Definitely didn't work. The star-illusions absorbed the light, so I still couldn't see anything. I started feeling around for doors, but a weird thing was happening. Every time I reached a door, I would get a sick feeling in my stomach if I tried to open it. I would gag just by trying to push open a door. And none of them would even come close to opening, either. Except one. I don't know what was different about this door, but it felt right to open it. And so I did. And so I regretted it the second after I did it. I was sucked into it and the door slammed shut behind me. I tried to pry it open, but it was stuck for good. I really hate magic sometimes.

So I turned around and saw the room. It wasn't empty like I thought it would be. It had an ancient wooden chair next to a large trunk. The chair had an outfit draped over it. It was a school uniform, with a Slytherin emblem on it, and a silver and green tie with more green and silver clothes under it. I opened the trunk and the inside was full of books and school supplies. On top of all the books was a diary. I didn't read it of course. It was none of my buisiness...Oh, believe me, I was tempted, but I figured I could hold out. I closed the trunk with a snap and looked up at the uniform...and promptly looked back down at the trunk. My name was inscribed on the trunk! It's destiny! Maybe I was meant to come to this place!

It excited me so much that I started looking around the room for more evidence of, well, myself. The only other thing I saw was a pedestal in the center of the room. It had some type of contraption on its surface, so I went to investigate. It was a timer. Don't ask me why there was a timer there, there just was. And it read:

YOU HAVE 0 YEARS, O MONTHS, 0 WEEKS, 0 DAYS, 0 HOURS, 4 MINUTES, 27 SECONDS.

Cryptic, I know. And random. But, I only had 4 minutes and 11 seconds to do something, and I strongly suspected it had something to do with the robes. So I put them on, in 3 minutes flat. I had about a minute to kill, so I occupied myself with digging through the trunk, looking at what type of textbooks were in it. The texts were a bit old, and the pages were musty. Dust was coming up from them as I pulled them out one by one. I had just opened a particularly worn book when the timer went off. It wasn't a blaring alarm or an obnoxious beeping like I expected, but a soft tune that I vaguely recognized. I couldn't put my finger on it, but It struck something in me.

When the tune ended, I looked around. Nothing seemed different to me. Well, until I looked down at the old, dusty book in my hand. The book that was no longer old and dusty. Its pages were new and clean, and all the dust from it seemed to have been sucked away by some unseen force. I was shocked, to say the least. What was going on? I glanced over at the timer again, and now it read:

YOU HAVE 0 YEARS, 5 MONTHS, 3 WEEKS, 1

DAYS, 23 HOURS, 57 MINUTES, 39 SECONDS.

UNTIL WHAT? It was truly driving me insane. I was about to throw the timer across the room when the door opened. I turned around, mid-grab, and saw a boy. He was about my age, with jet black hair parted to the side and cobalt blue eyes. He was wearing robes with a Slytherin emblem and a Head Boy badge. He looked bewildered when he saw me. His eyes automatically flew to the Slytherin crest on my robes.

Of course, I was just as bewildered to see him. Head Boy? But Malfoy is the head boy! I had never even seen this guy before. I was gaping at him in shock, mirroring the look of "HUH!" he was giving me. Then he spoke, finally shaken from his surprise.

"Who the hell are you, and what are you doing in here?" He asked, his whole aura radiating power and...is that confusion I feel?

"Nice to meet you, too," I said, rather sarcastically. What a sweetheart, really. I'm falling in love with this guy, Mr. Wonderful, as we speak.

Oh. Wait.

I lied.