Tristain stood up, looking around. He could have sworn that he had heard a noise. "What's wrong, Tristain?" Alice asked, standing up. She rubbed her eyes, feeling naked without her wand.
"I thought I heard something," he muttered. "It must've been nothing…"
He looked around once more, and then looked back at Alice. He took a step back, aiming his wand above her shoulder – at a woman that stood behind her. "Tristain…"
"Turn around!" he said quickly.
Alice gave him a curious look, and then turned. The woman before them had curly black hair and bright grey eyes… just like Alice. Alice stared for a moment, and then she sprinted forward, her mother taking small steps towards her, but she was rigid… there was something off…
"Alice, wait!" Tristain hollered. He slashed his wand in the direction of her feet, and a yellow light swept through the air towards her feet. He ran forward, following the spell. It wrapped around Alice's feet, tripping her, and Tristain leapt over her, slamming into the woman. Just as he did so, he threw his wand at Alice.
The woman changed when the two of them landed into black sludge, covering Tristain's face. Alice grabbed his wand, trying to aim for the black sludge, but she was afraid she would hit Tristain. She stared in horror as he clawed at the sludge, suffocating. Red, black, and yellow lights flew out of the sludge, but none of them helped, and soon he stopped moving.
Alice's heart plummeted, her mouth opened slightly. Tears pooled in her eyes as the sludge slipped away into the forest. Leaves behind Alice rustled, and she heard heavy breathing. She looked back, Tristain's wand pointed at the person who happened to be a Slytherin – Catherine. A girl she knew rather well. They weren't the best of friends, but they copied each other's homework every once in a while back at Hogwarts.
The Slytherin looked at Tristain's body for a moment, and then where the black sludge had moved on. "Alice, we have to go," Catherine told her.
But Alice didn't listen. She ran over to Tristain's body, lying across his chest. "Rennervate!" she yelled, but Tristain remained unmoving. "Rennervate!"
"Alice… really, he's dead. We have to follow the Empathia."
"Why do I care about that thing?"
"Because if we let it get away," said Catherine slowly, "it'll kill another person. Just as it killed Tristain."
Alice wiped her eyes and nodded, her eyes downcast. "You're right…"
"Yeah," she told her. "We have to isolate the Empathia. If it doesn't have a magical source to drain from, it'll die. Plus, it can… well, it can turn people into servants of sorts, using their magic."
Alice gave Tristain one last mournful look, and then looked up at Catherine. "Let's go."