Disclaimer: J.K. Rowling is the genius behind this amazing world. I am simply momentarily occupying it.
Once Upon All Hallows' Eve
Chapter Three
The Pair Brave the Dark
The bang sounded again, only this time it was closer.
Rose felt every single hair on her body stand on end. One banging noise could easily be explained as her imagination playing tricks on her. Multiple, and moving, noises were more than her imagination.
"I don't know how you're doing it, but quit making those banging noise, Rose. It's not funny," Scorpius spoke through gritted teeth. Despite herself, Rose chuckled. The entire time she had known him, Scorpius always acted with bravado. Nothing could scare the Malfoy, except perhaps the former Headmistress McGonagall. It was a nice change to see Scorpius so rattled. It made him seem imperfect and flawed; it made him more relatable.
"I'm not making that noise, Scorpius," Rose replied. Scorpius visibly stiffened.
"It's probably nothing," Scorpius spoke, attempting to sooth his fears, "this is an old, ill-kept house. It probably makes all sorts of noises in the cold and wind."
"You're probably right; it's nothing. We should just ignore it, continue on with our evening as if nothing happened," Rose agreed, returning to her book. She could easily ignore the banging and write it off as the normal sounds of an old house; she had years of experience ignoring Carly's asinine talking. Scorpius too fell silent, and Rose thought that would be the end of the banging noise conversation.
She was sorely mistaken.
After only ten minutes of silence, with no talking or banging, Scorpius suddenly bolted upright. He rung his hands together and paced the room before stopping in front of Rose and turning to look at her.
"So that ignoring the banging thing? Easier said than done. I propose we go out and check the house. Try and find the source. Once I know for sure, I'll be able to ignore it, no problem," he spoke rapidly, his fear and anxiety evident. Rose let out a sigh and put her book down.
"If it's nothing, why do we need to go looking?" Rose asked.
"Because until I investigate it, I do not know it is nothing. I need to see it, before I can believe it," Scorpius explained.
"Well, aren't you a scientist," Rose mumbled.
"A what?" Scorpius asked, quirking his head and lifting an eyebrow.
"Never mind, it's unimportant," Rose paused for a moment, thinking over leaving the security she felt in the room for the unknown in the rest of the house. "I just have one question," Rose began carefully, hoping to maybe convince Scorpius not to leave, "what happens if we don't find anything?"
Scorpius momentarily paled at her question, but then skillfully recollected himself. Rose was quite impressed by the control he had over his emotions.
"We'll deal with that if it is ever an issue, but I highly doubt that it will be. Now, I'm going out, with or without you." Scorpius spoke with such finality that Rose knew she wouldn't be able to talk him out of this. Having finished all he planned to say, Scorpius turned to leave.
"Wait!" Rose called, halting Scorpius' progress, "I'll go with you. It's always the moment people split up that one of them ends up being killed in those stupid muggle horror movies. We should stick together no matter what, watch each other's back and everything."
Scorpius thought about her words for a moment, before nodding.
"Makes sense, though I don't think we will face anything like that. There isn't anything sinister in this house."
Rose stood and joined Scorpius by the door before the two entered the dark hallway.
They passed through the hallway without coming across anything that could conceivably have made the noise. Each of the rooms on the upper landing were also thoroughly checked, though most contained sparse furniture. Rose wondered to herself who had come in and removed the furniture; if the furniture was anything like that in the room she was staying, it didn't seem worth the effort.
It took nearly an hour to check the top floor of the Shrieking Shack, mostly because Scorpius insisted checking every possible thing that might have made the noise. For the most part, Rose stood in the doorways and observed his hunt, fully content not knowing what exactly had created the banging. As long as she could write it off as a normal household noise, she would be able to sleep at night. She didn't need to know the exact cause. Scorpius seemed to be the exact opposite.
After an hour, Rose's patience was wearing thin. She just wanted to go back to the room, curl up with her book, and forget about that stupid noise.
"Look, the second noise was close by, obviously from this floor. If you haven't found anything here, I doubt much more hunting will reveal anything. Can we please just go back and call it a night?"
"No, the sound obviously echoed somehow, making it sound like it was closer. It had to have come from downstairs, or possibly outside. We'll have to check everywhere to be sure." With that, Scorpius continued down the stairs and towards the main floor.
Rose groaned; Scorpius could be impossible sometimes! But she followed him anyway. The sound on its own didn't bother her, but it, combined with being alone, sent shivers up her spine. Between following Scorpius and sitting in the room alone, Scorpius was the lesser of two evils.
He was going to make it up to her; that was for sure.
Rose caught up to Scorpius in the ornately decorated living room. The walls were covered in an intricate, maroon, fleur-de-lis patterned wallpaper. The furniture was ornate, dark, and Victorian. In fact, the entire room looked as if it hadn't been redecorated since Queen Victoria's reign. Rose momentarily returned to her earlier musings about furniture and wondered why only the upstairs rooms had been emptied. Though, the living room furniture was fairly gaudy; Rose could understand it being abandoned.
Scorpius was busy looking beneath one of the four gaudy armchairs. Rose suppressed her chuckle at the sight of the high-and-mighty Scorpius laying on his stomach, his wand shining light underneath the emerald covered-chair. It was quite a sight.
Rose took up her position of observing Scorpius from the doorway and would have been content standing there until Scorpius finished his survey of the room. However, after only ten minutes, an unignorable sensation passed over her. As she stood in the doorway, observing Scorpius, she suddenly felt as if someone was observing her. She quickly whipped her head around, trying to ascertain the source of the sensation. However, she was unsuccessful.
Immediately, Rose moved towards Scorpius, seeking human interaction and comfort. She stopped just behind him and moved to tap him on his shoulder, but he chose that moment to stand. Obviously unaware of Rose's presence behind him, Scorpius ended up colliding with Rose and causing the two of the to topple to the floor.
Rose landed on her back with enough force to expel the air from her lungs. Scorpius somehow maneuvered himself during the fall so he landed off to her side. If Rose had been able to think clearly, she would have been thankful for that. As it were, her head was swimming from the lack of oxygen. In her hazy state, she though she saw a dark, blurry shape hovering above her. With a few blinks of her eyes, the dark shape vanished. A few seconds later, Scorpius entered her vision.
"Hey. You okay? You still with me?" he asked, waving a hand in front of her face. Rose pushed him aside and looked to the area where she had seen the black blur, but there was nothing but ceiling. "What are you looking at?" Scorpius asked, trying to follow Rose's sight line.
"Never mind," Rose shook it off and stood up, "let's just keep looking for that noise and get back to the room as soon as we can. I just want this stupid night to be over with already." This house was starting to get to her; she wanted to be out of it as fast as possible.
She pushed past Scorpius and continued on to the rest of the house.
It was nearly two in the morning by the time the search of the house was complete. A source had not been found for the noise. Rose had started off not caring about the source of the noise. She may have brought up the possibility of not finding the cause, but she hadn't really thought about what that would mean. After a thorough and exhaustive search of the entire shack, and no explanation of the sound, Rose was completely freaked out. Nothing in the shack had made the noise. That meant that whatever made the noise was no longer in the house, an impossibility because there was no way for anything to leave.
The search had ended in the kitchen, and the two were sitting at the rickety table, fear and worry etched in both their faces. Neither wanted to admit that their search was over, or what it meant. Instead, they sat in silence and prolonged the inevitable. After nearly ten minutes, the eeriness of the silence became unbearable for Rose.
"What now?" she asked, breaking the tension.
"We could check outside," Scorpius suggested, glancing out the small, cracked window over the sink.
"I doubt it would be beneficial. We've already looked all over the house. I say we call it a night and head back to the room. I'm exhausted."
Scorpius hesitated for a moment, weighing the options, before he let out a deep sigh.
"Ladies first," he spoke as he rose from the table and motioned for Rose to exit first. Rose chose to focus on the act of walking and not let her thoughts wander. The old house was playing tricks on her senses. She was sure of it. She quickly walked through the house, up the stairs, and across the room.
It no longer felt safe and welcoming. Now it felt cold and eerie, like the rest of the house. She was just glad there were only a few more hours left before she was free of this hellhole.
She picked up her book and attempted to immerse herself in the world of the Nephilim, but her overactive brain kept bringing up the questions she was trying to avoid. Where had the sound come from? What, or who, had caused it? They kept circling in her mind on an endless wheel, not letting her focus on anything else.
The sound of someone clearing his or her throat broke her momentarily from her cyclical thoughts. A rare sight met her eyes. Standing over her, looking uncharacteristically sheepish was Scorpius.
"Mind if… mind if I join you? The bed isn't all that comfortable and it's fairly chilly out…"
"Go right ahead," Rose spoke, motioning to the empty space beside her. Truthfully, she was glad Scorpius had offered to sit near her. The room felt less creepy sitting next to another human being, even if it was the vile Scorpius Malfoy.
To be continued