Deep concern shone through Eileen's, normally happy and sarcastic, eyes. She had just been informed of Haylie's choice to go and see the anonymous stalker that had been tormenting Haylie and almost cost Elvin's life.
"You aren't seriously thinking of going to that graveyard alone are you?" Eileen asked, placing her hands on her hips. Disbelief shadowed her face as Haylie nodded yes to her question.
"You can't! He may hurt you or…do….many more horrible things to you!" Eileen snapped, seizing Haylie's arm and pulling her away from the small backpack she was filling. Haylie loosened Eileen's grip on her forearm and moved away from her quickly. Nothing and no one was going to change her mind.
"Sorry Eileen, but I have to do this myself," Haylie said, zipping her backpack, "If one of you go with me he may kill somebody, even us!"
"So we're supposed to sit here all night and wait for the news that you've been killed? Sorry, but no," Eileen shouted bitterly. In some strange way Haylie felt a pinch of flattery. She loved Eileen for being so concerned, but disliked her for the same reason.
"I'll be fine! Just don't worry about me," Haylie assured her friends turning the golden doorknob until she heard the clicking noise, which told her the door was free to open. Neither Corinne nor Eileen spoke a word as Haylie pushed the door shut. Darkness along with hushed silence consumed the chilly hallways. All nervousness had been flushed from Haylie's mind and she continued on with high hope and spirits.
"Why do you Gryffindors always travel through the passageways this late at night?" a crackled voice echoed from about 5 feet in front of Haylie. At first the voice startled her and her fingers hurt badly as she clutched her flashlight tightly in her hand. Luckily, it was just the raspy voice of Sir Frederick Jonathan Landlelake, one of the more outspoken wall portraits.
"Sorry Sir Landlelake, just needed some fresh air," Haylie whispered, giggling softly as she walked past his frame. He grunted and turned, pulling his blankets over himself. The rest of the journey through the Hogwarts corridors was easy and silent. She finally reached the same door she had exited through the night she ran out into the rain, only this time no droplets of water fell from the night sky. Instead of the rain, huge gusts of wind blew through the outskirts of Hogwarts. Haylie wrapped her wool sweater tighter around herself and trudged forward, trying to make as little noise as humanly possible. She remembered that Hermione had told her that the Hufflepuff Graveyard was to the right of the Gryffindor Tower. Unfortunately, there were four towers in all and Haylie didn't have a clue to which one was home to the Gryffindors. The foggy moonlight allowed Haylie to see as she gazed up at the tops of the castle, trying to find an sign to which tower was which. Suddenly, her attention was aimed away from the towers as a dark flying creature burst from the forest, soaring straight towards her head. Haylie screamed and threw herself to the ground, covering her head with only one arm. To her amazement, the flying creature flew right by her and traveled to the far left tower. Once she was sure she was safe, she jumped to her feet, which were wobbly and shaky.
"It was just an owl," Haylie whispered to herself, letting out a huge sigh of relief from deep within her chest. With this revelation came another. She could hear the hooting of the owls faintly. This meant that the Gryffindor Tower was in one of the father towers.
"It was the one that owl flew to!" Haylie realized, her feet steady and her whole body calm. Now that she knew where she was going all she had to worry about was getting there on time. Haylie paused and yanked her right sleeve up to her elbow. A shiny green watch was revealed and she bent down closely to see the time. It was 12:13am. She had less than an hour to reach the graveyard. Haylie figured she had plenty of time, but planned on arriving early, just to plan some escape routes out of the graveyard.
The calmness that Haylie had felt before turned to complete fear as she approached the eerie Hufflepuff Graveyard. She was so close, now, that she could read the name of the first tombstone clearly. Helga Hufflepuff. Of course, Haylie thought trying to calm herself, it is her graveyard after all. She wasn't the only witch that rested in the graveyard. Haylie could see hundreds of graves stretched throughout the graveyard, which was surrounded by a crooked metal fence. The crest of the Hufflepuff House was embedded into each pole of the fence, as well as the graves themselves.
"Here it goes," Haylie mumbled, her voice shaky and scared. The handle of the fence felt cold on her fingers and she pushed the door open as fast as she could, hearing it bang as it closed. She jumped, but her eyes remained wide and alert. Out of discomfort rather than for actual purpose, Haylie checked her watch. This time it read 12:41am. This didn't please Haylie at all.
"I want to go back!" Haylie cried, sitting down and resting her head on a tombstone. She was now sitting in the center of the Hufflepuff Graveyard, her eyes tired and begging to shut. She moved one of her legs and was startled by a loud crack. She looked down and saw she had rested her foot on a stick, which was now broken in two.
"I am going crazy," Haylie muttered, placing her hand on her forehead. Once she had settled down and regained her attention, she finally saw the gravestone she was leaning on.
"Lauren Shockley, January 8, 1957- June 24, 1988. Loving Daughter, Wife, and Mother. Forever she shall shine in the light of her wand…." Haylie knew the name was familiar. Where have I heard the name Shockley before, she asked herself. Finally it came to her.
"Damon! Damon's last name is Shockley!" Haylie gasped, shaking her head sadly, "Could this be his…mother?" For once Haylie felt compassion for the boy who had seemed so much like a pig on the train ride on the Hogwarts Express. Unfortunately, somebody else didn't.
"Why are you speaking of this Damon Shockley?" a voice boomed from behind her. Haylie jumped, whipping herself around to face the person who had been sending her the letters.
"Who are you?" Haylie asked, backing away from the cloaked figure. To her surprise the stalker was not much bigger than a regular sized man, but his voice was deep and raspy. His, or her, cloak appeared to be that of a Halloween costume of a dementor, but Haylie knew that no one would go out on Halloween as one of those horrible creatures.
"Do you really expect me to tell you," the raspy voice choked, coming closer to Haylie, "You should already know." Haylie shook her head, once again stepping away from the person. The first person that came to her was Voldemort.
"What do you want?" Haylie shouted, almost tripping over another headstone. Luckily, she kept herself from falling to the ground.
"I want many things Haylie," the deep voice explained, "I want power over everyone! I want to rule the witching world and I want to be the king of all magic. Of course I also want new socks, but you can't always get everything you want."
"I mean, what do you want with me?" After Haylie said things, laughter roared from the cloak. It was so loud, Haylie worried that someone would hear it from the castle.
"You? You are just my tool. You are my tool to get someone else," the figure stepped closer, "Of course, I haven't actually studied you enough to know if you have any special sort of powers. If you do, then I will just have to take them. Or keep you around me." Haylie bit her lip, wishing that Eileen or Corinne had come with her. All she wanted was for someone to come and help her.
"Who is it that you want?" Haylie yelled. More laughter erupted from the cloaked stalker.
"If I tell you that information this soon, I may as well be giving them a warning sign to leave! I may be short, but I am definitely not stupid."
"I don't understand why you want me here! Why can't you get someone else to do your work?" Haylie questioned, the fear rushing out of her mind and body. Haylie now knew that the figure wouldn't harm her, so trying to get as much information out of the person would be influential.
"Because you are the only one who can accomplish all I want you to do."
"What is that?" Haylie asked, not really wanting to know what she was supposed to do.
"I first want you to get me all the passwords from all four of the houses," the raspy voice was beginning to clear and she now could tell the voice wasn't real, "and that is all for tonight, but I will send you another note informing you of the next time we will meet. You better be there with all of the passwords or you will seriously regret it." Haylie nodded and watched as the cloaked person ran into the thicket of trees behind the graveyard, disappearing from her sight. Haylie felt nervous once again. The thought of handing over somebody's life to that evil person didn't give her comfort or happiness. She would be killing someone, perhaps somebody she knew,. Perhaps that person would be Hermione. The thought of it was unbearable and Haylie sat down and closed her eyes, dreaming of her old carefree life...Dreaming of her life as a Muggle.
"Wake up," a male voice yelled. Haylie could feel someone pushing her arm strongly, getting more impatient by the second. Although her head felt numb and her hands felt cold, Haylie sat up. She forced her eyelids to lift and when they did she saw that Hogwarts and its grounds were still blanketed in darkness.
"Haylie? Is that you?" the voice asked, kneeling next to her. It took Haylie a few moments to recognize the boy next to her.
"Damon? What time is it?" Haylie asked, pulling herself to her feet, with help from Damon and the smooth tombstone. He shrugged but then spotted her watch. He grabbed her arm and turned it so he could see the time clearly.
"It's 1:49 in the morning, why are you out here?" Damon asked, releasing her arm and rubbing his own eyes.
"I guess I should be asking you the same," Haylie muttered, trying to fully wake up.
"I came to visit a grave," Damon mumbled, peering at the gravestone Haylie was leaning on. Then Haylie remembered what she had read just an hour before.
"Is that your mother?" Haylie asked, as she watched Damon place the flowers he was holding upon the grave. Before Damon could answer someone else entered the graveyard.
"Who's there?" Professor Snape's voice called, spotting them. A small smirk appeared on his face and he motioned for them to follow him.
"Granger and Shockley. Who would've ever guessed?"
"Professor we were just…" Haylie tried to say but was cut short.
"Oh I know, Granger. You two are a bit young for that aren't you?" Snape's smirk turned into a full-blown smile, "Anyway you're out after hours. Let's see what the Headmaster has to say about your little midnight outing."
"But Professor Snape," Damon retorted, anger in his voice, "We were just visiting graves. Some of my family is in here and Haylie needs to research the…Muggle-born defeaters. So we both just came down here to…do that." Haylie could tell Damon was blushing, even through the darkness.
"Nice try Shockley," Snape snapped bitterly, turning around and walking towards the entrance of the gate.
"Follow me children."
"Yes Professor Snape." Both first-years said in unison, stepping forward to follow their Potions master. As they ventured toward the Hogwarts castle doors Haylie felt thankful that Damon had tried to get both of them out of trouble. She smiled and glanced at him, but he was staring straight ahead, glaring at the back of Snape's head. Haylie couldn't help but feel wary as well, because both Damon and Snape had been out side at that graveyard. For all she knew, one of them could be the cloaked man.