They were standing in pitch black. Harry tried to put his hand in front of his face but couldn't see a thing. He could feel Hermione and Ron standing close by, but couldn't even see an outline of their figures in the darkness. It seemed unnaturally quiet, almost as if everything around them were dead. He heard Hermione trying to quietly light her wand but nothing was happening.

A sudden scream filled the air and they moved closer together. The darkness seemed to be getting lighter, turning to a very dark grey and turning lighter shades of the same colour very slowly. There was a thick fog surrounding them and the air was heavy and humid, making breathing difficult and unpleasant. They clutched onto each other and moved forward very slowly.

The fog was so thick that they couldn't see what was above them, but Harry had the ominous feeling that whatever it was not there to help them. They began walking forward again and they could hear squelching under their feet. They looked down, but again couldn't see anything below their shins due to a thick mist covering the floor. As they walked on they could hear a groaning sound from beneath them, which quickly turned into shrieks and agonised screams. They were breathing quickly now and stumbled forward, not knowing where they were going or what they were going to find when they got there.

The screeches and screams grew louder and louder the quicker and harder they walked, the squelching noises becoming more prominent. He could hear Hermione start to sob and put his arm quickly to her waist and gave her a comforting squeeze.

They trudged on for a while longer, until Ron suddenly began shouting in fright. Harry whirled around to see what he was shouting at and saw Ron staring at the ground with a terrified look on his face, screaming as if it would be his last. Harry looked down and immediately vomited. There beneath him were faces of the dead, screaming in and endless agony and no doubt because they were standing on them. Harry looked at the face Ron was screaming at and saw that it was Mrs. Weasley. Her face was pale and her gums had rotted away. She had deep bags under her eyes and her face looked like it had blood splashed all over it.

"It's not real Ron!" shouted Harry, desperately trying to stop Ron's endless screaming. "It's a trick! Voldemort likes to play with people's heads! RON!" Ron stopped screaming but Harry could see that tears were streaming down his face. Harry moved quickly to him and grabbed him by the shoulder, urging him to keep walking. Hermione's face looked pale and almost haunted. He knew he shouldn't have let her come along. He put an arm around her waist and pulled her along while grabbing onto the fabric of Ron's shirt.

It seemed like hours later, Harry's legs were stiff from walking so far. He had almost gotten used to the continuous screams and wails, but his nerves felt ragged. Hermione and Ron had been silent for a long time, and Harry was seriously considering using the recorder to go back to the orphanage. He could come back here some other time, they shouldn't be here. He looked at both Ron and Hermione, both were walking along stonily and had traces of tears on their cheeks. Their minds had been played around with so much since arriving here and Harry was impressed that they were still sane.Hermione had seen her parents too, and the way she had crumpled to the floor trying to dig them out of the ground broke Harry's heart. 'Ok,' he thought 'Time to get them out of here.'

"Look," said Hermione, her voice sounding hollow and distant "There's a house up there," Harry was about to tell her she was hallucinating but then he saw the glimmer of lights ahead and, as the fog cleared momentarily, he saw an old looking house in the distance. With renewed vigour the three of them traipsed faster, and eventually found themselves at the house.

Harry ascended the steps first, his wand drawn. There was an awful smell of death and decay, and he had to breath through his mouth to stop the constant waves of nausea that gripped him. He gripped the door handle and turned it clockwise. The door swung open to admit them, though the darkness inside made Harry think twice about going in. He walked through the door and heard Ron vomit behind him, obviously not breathing through his mouth. They all walked into the hallway very cautiously and suddenly the door swung shut. They all moved together quickly, wondering what new horror awaited them.

"Well this is a good time,"whispered Ron sarcastically "Can't think of a better way to spend a day."

The room was no longer dark at all, but seemed full of colours. There were trinkets all over the place and Harry recognised the room he was standing in front of immediately. They were in Hepzibah's house, and she was sitting in her chair happily eating some cake. They all looked at each other curiously and Harry walked over to her.

"Uh, hello," said Harry nervously "We've, um, come to see that cup you have. If you don't mind showing it to us that is…" Hepzibah simpered at Harry and retrieved a box from under her chair. There was the cup, gleaming brightly.

"Wait," said Hepzibah quickly "You didn't bring me any flowers. You don't get to see my special treasure unless I get my flowers." Harry looked at Hermione and Ron and shrugged slightly. He looked at his wand and thought 'orchideous'. A bouquet of bright flowers shot from the end of Harry's wand and Hepzibah clapped her hands delightfully. She offered Harry the box and he quickly took the cup.

The moment the cup was in his hands the room started to lose its colour. The smell of death and decay hit him and he had to fight the urge to vomit. He looked up at Hepzibah and was horrified at what he saw. Her ginger wig had gone and a bald wrinkled head had replaced it. Her eyes had become suddenly hollow and sunken in. Her flesh seemed to pale before him and became more translucent. She lunged at Harry with an evil moan and had her hands wrapped tightly around his neck, squeezing harder and harder until Harry could see white spots dancing in his vision. Hermione rushed over to him and pulled the Inferi's hands off of his neck and she was thrown to the side and crashed violently into a cabinet. Harry rushed over to her while Ron pointed his wand at her and shouted 'Incendio'. Bright flames engulfed the Inferi, and they ran towards the door. When they got to the door however, it wouldn't open. Harry tugged and tugged, Hermione tried various spells and Ron tried kicking it. Nothing seemed to work. They could hear a lot of movement behind them and saw Inferi coming down the stairs, from the back of the house, out of the room Hepzibah was burning in and out of the various closets in the hallway. They all shouted 'Incendio' over and over, and burning bodies suddenly filled the house. Harry tugged on the door again, but still nothing. Now the house was burning and thick black smoke filled the air. 'We're going to die in here if we don't get out soon,' Harry thought and tried to find the wooden recorder. He suddenly felt Hermione slump against him and Ron was coughing violently. He was still desperately trying to find it when he felt the odd shaped lump within his robes. He fished it out gently, trying not to breath in too much smoke. He put an arm around Hermione's waist and one around Ron, and then seized the wooden instrument.

A moment later they were back in the room that had once belonged to Voldemort. Ron was coughing hard, but Harry was looking at Hermione. She was lying very still on the floor, her face slightly blackened from the smoke. "Oh please don't let her be gone, please don't let her be gone,' he thought desperately to himself, repeating it over and over in his head like a mantra. He could feel hot tears down his face and slowly blew a breath into her mouth, listening anxiously for her breathing. He did this over and over until he was shaking badly and thought he'd lost her. He began to cry and cry and held her head in his arms. He felt like his heart was breaking in two and it was taking all of his self control to not scream as loudly as he could.

She suddenly coughed lightly and he stopped and stared at her, not sure if he was dreaming or not. When she smiled up at him he let out a shaky sigh of relief and buried his head into her shoulder, so very thankful that she wasn't gone. What would he have done if he'd lost her? How could he have carried on without her? He felt his tears begin to fall again at the thought, and held onto her tighter.

"You're not coming with us again," said Harry shakily. Hermione gave a small laugh and closed her eyes, feeling safe having Harry so close to her.

"It'll take more than that to stop me going with you," she said quietly, and closed her eyes.

They didn't notice Ron looking at them with narrowed eyes, or the deep suspicion written across his face.