House: Hufflepuff

Class: Transfiguration

Prompts: It's the zombie apocalypse and you have survived on your own. One day, you run into a clan of other survivors; [Setting] A library

Ellie is an OC.

Word Count: 1,830

Ellie ducks into the dark alleyway. She leaps and successfully grabs onto the stairwell on the side of the building. She lifts herself up and silently waits.

She hears the shuffling of feet, the moaning as the mob of undead pass by the alley. Ellie waits a couple of minutes, before deeming it safe enough to leave. She hops back onto the ground and starts jogging in the opposite direction of the horde of zombies.

It had all happened so quickly. One minute, Ellie had been talking to her friend about the latest gossip at school. The next moment, she had been running away from an ugly, green creature.

Zombies.

Of course, a Zombie Apocalypse would ruin her life. It came out of nowhere. It had started in the UK and somehow had spread across the world like wildfire. Nowhere was safe.

Ellie shakes her head to clear it. Now was not the time to be thinking of the past. Not when she had to survive another day. She looks up at the sky and sees that it's getting dark.

'I better find a safe place to stay the night. I don't want a repeat of what happened last time I stayed out too late,' Ellie thinks as she looks at her bandaged arm.

She glances around the area. Most of the buildings are destroyed in one way or the other. Her eyes then fall on one particular building. It's surprisingly intact. The windows haven't been smashed through and the front doors are closed.

'Well...looks like I'm staying there for the night,' Ellie thinks as she runs towards it.

Reaching the front doors, she slowly opens it. Ellie enters the building and silently closes the door behind her, not wanting to draw any attention. She looks around as her mouth opens slightly.

'Oh...I just stepped foot into a library. I haven't been in one of these for a couple of months.'

Ellie then starts walking forward and away from the windows. She pulls out her flashlight and turns it on. Her footsteps echo around the empty library. It doesn't take her long to find a mostly-safe place to sleep. It's in the corner, hidden by a large bookcase.

Ellie carefully climbs the bookcase and reaches the top. Once there, Ellie takes her backpack off and places it on the bookcase. She turns her flashlight off and tucks it into the bag before lying down. Ellie curls up into a ball and slowly falls asleep.

Ever since the apocalypse started, Ellie has had the same dream. It's of a family vacation that she went on a couple of months ago. Her parents had decided that they should visit the beach.

In her dream, it's always a beautiful day. The sun shines brightly overhead and a nice, cool breeze blows gently around them.

"Ellie! Let's play," Sam, her younger brother, says as he runs up to her.

"Alright, Sam. What do you want to play?"

"Tag!"

"Tag, eh? Well then...you're it," Ellie cries before she touches Sam and runs off.

"Come back! Ellie," Sam calls out as he starts to chase his sister.

Ellie giggles as she plays with Sam. Their parents watch them from the towels, smiling.

The dream slowly shifts to something a bit–darker. Pale green slowly replaces healthy, glowing skin. The color disappears, leaving only white, lifeless eyes.

Her mother lunges at her before everything goes dark.

Voices wake her up, pulling her out of her dream. Opening her eyes, she sees that the sun is shining through the windows. Putting her backpack back on, she climbs down the bookcase. Ellie slowly walks closer to the voices. Soon enough, she's close enough to hear them.

"Are you sure that the book will be here, Neville? You said that the last two times," a male voice says.

"I'm positive, Percy. And the book was at the other two libraries at one point," another male voice says. "They were just either checked out or stolen after the zombies started to appear."

"Can you two not argue right now? We need to get back to the others," a female voice tells the two males. "Ugh! I still can't believe I'm stuck in another country with Gryffindors."

"Sorry, Pansy. Ah! I found it," the second male voice says.

Ellie peeks around the corner to see three teenagers standing there. A black-haired boy is crouching, holding a book in his hand. A red-haired boy and brown-haired girl stands beside him.

"Great! Let's head on back now. Maybe this will be able to help us find a cure," the girl says.

"Wait...you guys are working on a cure?" Ellie says as she steps out from behind the bookshelf.

The three teens turn towards Ellie. The girl glares at her as she crosses her arms.

"And you are?" she asks rudely.

"My name's Elizabeth, though people just call me Ellie. I didn't mean to listen in on your conversation, but I spent the night here and I heard you guys talking on my way out," Ellie explains. "Are you actually working on a cure?"

They glance at each other. The black-haired boy then turns towards Ellie.

"Yeah. We think that this book will help us," he explains.

"Oh. What's it about?" Ellie asks.

"Biology."

"Oh. I'm guessing you don't have any doctors at your place," Ellie says.

"It doesn't matter," the girl says as she turns towards Ellie. "Now then, go about your own business and forget about us."

"Pansy! Don't be so rude. I'm sorry about her. This has been rough on all of us," the red-haired boy explains.

"Yeah. Well, since you guys are working on a cure...I want you to take these," Ellie says as she pulls two notebooks out of her bag. "My mother was a doctor. She was trying to find a way to cure everyone...before she turned. I was able to get her notes before my house burned down. I hope that they can be of some help."

Ellie walks towards the black-haired boy and holds them out to him. He looks at her, a bit hesitant to take them.

"Don't worry. I already know what they say. I have an eidetic memory. Basically, I remember everything that I read and hear. They aren't doing anybody any good collecting dust in my bag. If they can help you guys make a cure, you can have it."

"T-thanks," he says as he grabs the two notebooks.

"Well then, I better be off. It was nice meeting you guys. Good luck with the cure. Maybe we'll meet again once this is all over," Ellie says as she smiles.

She waves goodbye to them as she walks out of the library. Ellie then looks around, trying to spot any zombies. She then heads off to her left as she continues on her journey.

'Well then, I still have some ground to cover to reach the closest stronghold. I should be there by the end of the week,' Ellie thinks.

"Wait!"

Ellie stops and turns to see the black-haired boy standing there, his two friends not far behind.

"D-do you want to come with us? I think that you'll be able to help us find a cure," he explains.

"Are you sure? I don't want to be a bother," Ellie tells him.

"You won't. And I think the others would like to meet you."

"Sure! Why not?"

"Great! O-oh yeah. I'm Neville Longbottom. This is Percy Weasley and Pansy Parkinson."

"Elizabeth Kingsworth. Now then, where to?" Ellie asks as she walks towards the group.

"We're going to head back to the others now," Neville explains.

"Ok. Do you want me to put the book and notebooks into my bag?"

"Sure. Thanks," Neville says as he hands them over to her.

Ellie grabs them and she places them into her backpack. She makes sure that her backpack is closed properly.

"So, how are we going to meet the rest of your friends?"

"Do you trust us?" Neville asks Ellie as he holds his hand out for her to take.

"Of course I do. You haven't shown me any reason not to," Elli says as she grabs Neville's hand.

She suddenly feels a sharp tug in her stomach as the world turns into a blur. It only lasts a couple of seconds. Ellie blinks and realises that she's not in front of the library anymore.

They are in a dimly-lit hallway. Stairs hug the wall to Ellie's right and a painting on the wall is covered.

"Ok, so...what the heck did you do?" Ellie asks as she turns towards the group. "More importantly, where are we?"

"See! I told you that she's a Muggle," Pansy says, as she crosses her arms. "You tell her, seeing as this is your fault!"

Pansy then storms away, through the door at the end of the hallway. She slams the door shut as Ellie blinks in confusion.

"What was that all about? Also, what's her problem? I have a feeling that she doesn't like me," Ellie calmly says as she looks at Percy and Neville. "And what's a 'Muggle'? I got a feeling like she's somehow insulting me."

"I'll tell Ellie. You go tell the others what happened," Percy says to Neville.

"Alright. I'll see you in a bit, Ellie," Neville says as he heads up the stairs.

He disappears from sight as his footsteps slowly fade away. Ellie looks at Percy, and raises an eyebrow.

"Alright. So...what are your thoughts on magic?" Percy asks Ellie.

"Magic? What would—oh...OH! That makes total sense," Ellie says as Percy looks at her in shock.

"What?"

"You guys use magic. Makes sense on how we went from being in front of a library to being in a house. I'm guessing that everyone here can use magic...besides me, of course."

"Y-yes. You're taking this...rather well. Why?"

"Zombies aren't supposed to be real, yet I've been chased by them for the past seven months. Knowing that magic is real is going to be a walk in the park," Ellie explains.

"Ok. You want to meet everyone else?"

"Sure! Maybe you can show me a library so that I can read more about magic."

"I'll let Hermione help you with finding books. Come along," Percy says as he heads towards the door that Pansy went through.

Ellie smiles as she walks after Percy. Maybe this wouldn't be so bad. At least she'll have new knowledge and a bunch of cool stories to tell her family when they meet again.