Three figures walked down a cobblestone street, looking, searching, sometimes calling out a name. One figure lags behind, his face in a look of deep thought.
Contemplating...
His eyes flashed for a second from emerald to a vivid crimson as a look of sudden understanding and rage washed over his features. The eyes turned back to green and the face returned to it's worried expression as the two in front of him glanced back questioningly.
"You okay, Harry?" Ron asked as gazed at his 'friend'.
"Yeah," he answered slowly, "I was just thinking..."
"About what?"
"Well," He thought out the words carefully before saying them, a plan forming swiftly in his mind. "I was just wondering why Derrin would go back to the tattoo parlor. I mean, the curse took effect in the graveyard, right? So, I was thinking that he might've gone there to find answers. It wouldn't make much sense to go back to the parlor, would it?"
Hermione thought for a second, then said, "No, it wouldn't. Good point Harry. I guess we should go look in the graveyard for him, then."
"Yeah. Good idea."
The two started walking again, and 'Harry' joined them, lagging behind a step or two, a smirk playing across his thin lips...
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Okay, let's try this again," Derrin looked down at me. I was sitting on the floor in the back room of the tattoo parlor.
Derrin reached down, and I held up my hand. Our fingers intertwined, and Derrin pulled as I struggled to get up to my feet.
"Nnnnngh..." I grunted as I tried to stand on my own. All my joints felt as if they were on fire.
After a minute or so, I managed to stand on my own, panting slightly. My back was still leaning against the wall, but at least I was on my feet. For how long, though, I couldn't be sure.
I closed my eyes and brought my breathing back to normal. I tried to meditate a little to dull the pain, but it didn't help much.
God, what did he hit me with?
I opened my eyes to find a blurry Derrin gazing worriedly at me. "You all right, mate?"
"Y-yeah," I answered. I brought my hand up to my eyes to see what was wrong with my glasses, and found they weren't there.
Through the haze in front of me, I saw Derrin bend down and pick something up.
"Looking for these?"
I felt my glasses being pushed into one of my hands, and wrapped my fingers around them. "Thanks," I said as I slipped them on. The room came back into focus.
A few seconds passed, then I remembered something my friend was saying as I woke up.
"So, when you were talking earlier, you said you ran into someone?"
Derrin's eyes widened as he remembered the incident. "Yeah," he said in an exited, breathy voice. "Yeah, I was running back here to the parlor, and this couple stepped out of a shop in front of me, and I hit the woman. We both went flying, her groceries went flying, I can't believe I didn't even think twice about it! I just shoved some of her stuff back in their bags, apologized, and took off!" He fell back into one of the armchairs, an amazed look on his face. I thought for a while, then looked down at him. He turned his face towards me again. "What happened? Why was I suddenly...not a ghost?"
"It could be that you're a muggle..." I offered. "So the spell might not've been as strong on you as it was on Ron, Hermione and I."
"Well, if it's wearing off on me, how long do you think it'll take to wear off for you?"
I hadn't thought of this before. I pondered, thinking back to the split-second eye contact with Ron. "How long have we been like this, you reckon?"
Derrin calculated a moment, then said slowly, still thinking, "Well, we left the parlor at about eleven, but it would be nice to know how long we were out. Let's say one night, and right now it's ummm..." He glanced at the wall on the clock and his eyes widened. "Five thirty! Holy Hell! I thought it would be like, two or something!"
"Okay, screw the calculations. We need to do something. Voldemort's walking around out there with my friends while we're sitting here talking. Knowing Voldemort, most likely he knows you came here, which leaves two options: One, he's coming here and bringing Ron and Hermione with him. That won't end nice at all, and I'm almost sure that most if not all of us will end up dead, or captured." I shuddered a bit at the thought, but continued, ignoring Derrin's pale, scared face. "And two, he's taking them somewhere, knowing that we're going to come looking for him. So inevitably there will be a trap set for us...Let's just hope its the latter. We might actually stand a chance then."
Derrin was staring with wide eyes. "You mean, there's no other option? We've got to fight him either way?" His voice was weak.
I dropped my eyes to the floor, avoiding my friend's scared gaze. "I'm afraid so..."
I didn't want to look at him. "I'm sorry," I mumbled.
"For what?"
My eyes snapped up, and they were blazing with self-loathing. Derrin looked startled. "For dragging you into this mess! For ruining your whole god-damn life!" My eyes softened a bit, and my voice lowered some. "God, I'm so sorry Derrin. I'm so sorry. You shouldn't be wrapped up in this mess. I should've never come here. Then I wouldn't have met you guys and you'd all be saf-"
"Oh shut up, you buffoon!"
My head snapped up and I gazed at Derrin as if I had never seen him before. He had jumped up from the chair and was standing in front of me
"It was bound to happen sooner or later, wasn't it? It wouldn't matter if you had gone to Antarctica. If Ron and Hermione are as good of friends as you say they are, they would have followed your trail to the ends of the Earth! Be glad you're here, man. 'Cuz at least you've got friends here. You've got me, Sam and Tom, and now your saying that you wish none of this had happened, that you hadn't even met us? Well I thought you were braver than that, Harry. Yeah, we've got a problem. Didja hear that? We have a problem. You might be sorry that I'm stuck in this mess, but I'm not! Because I don't believe things happen for no good reason. It's obvious you need help, and I'm gonna help you."
He paused a second for breath and looked down at my shocked face. "...So...so there."
I sat frozen for a second, then a grin spread across my face. "So there ?"
Derrin blushed a little, then said, "Well, I couldn't think of anything else to say."
He stood before me, and after a brief pause, he asked, "So what do we do?"
I remembered the experiments I wanted to conduct earlier before I was 'interrupted'.
Slowly, I stepped across the room to my locker. My body was still sore, but the pain was much more bearable now.
Tentatively, I put my hand forward until it was an inch from my locker. I took a breath, and shoved it forward through the metal door- WHAM!
"OW! Bloody Hell !" I waved my hand around in front of me, my very bones throbbing. After a second of dancing on the spot, I suddenly froze as if I was turned to stone. Still holding my aching limb, I turned my head and stared at Derrin, Who was looking astonished right at me. I looked back at the locker. It stood innocently before me, the ceiling lights glinting harmlessly off it's painted front.
"Who's back there?"
Derrin and I both spun around at the familiar voice. Footsteps sounded outside the door leading to the main parlor, and soon, the door swung open, and a very haggard looking Samantha stood before us. Her eyes went wide. "H-James? Derrin? Where have you been?"
Derrin and I looked at each other, then back at Sam.
"You can see us?" "You can see us?" We both asked at the same time, incredulous.
She raised an eyebrow. "Of course I can see you! Why wouldn't I be able to?"
Derrin and I looked at each other again.
"Oh shit." "Oh shit."
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Hey guys, I'm so sorry for the wait. Only a few more chapters left to go! Thanks for staying with me this long. Hope you enjoyed the chapter. It gets better soon--I promise. Please review, your comments help keep me going on with the story cuz I know what you think about it.
Until next time,
-Kybo