** I do not own the rights to Harry Potter, the names and original ideas belongs to J.K Rowling.**

Chapter 2

After weeks of hard rain and strong winds, the sun had finally decided to break loose from the grasp of the dark clouds. For the orphans of Westchesterton, this was perfect since they had wished for the sun to come out on this particular day.

This was the first time the children visited the countryside. Their new Head Matron, Mrs Cole, had promised them a nice day away from chores, and the dull hallways of the orphanage. Mrs Cole was the replacement of the late Mrs Mond, who had passed away under strange circumstances. She had been found, by some of the oldest children, in the kitchen. Pale as snow, with her eyes widened in terror, and her lips gently spread. She had been at a seemingly good health, and it appeared as if she had simply dropped dead.

Despite the tragic occurrence, the children of the orphanage seemed to have adjusted to Mrs Cole really well; they all actually seemed to be very attached to her. All except one...

"Come on, Amy", yelled a dark-haired boy, "I want to show you something".

The girl, Amy, followed the dark-haired boy to the lake, but stopped when she got close to the steep end of the cliff. Close behind her, another boy followed.

"Amy, don't be afraid, nothing can happen while I'm here", he said reassuringly to the girl. He walked up to her, and took her hand, at the same time as the dark-haired boy showed up next to them. "You can hold mine too", he grinned.

Together, the three children climbed down the wall of the cliff, high above the water. Where tall waves struck the rocks. The dark-haired boy kept going further down, and the others followed him closely. At last they reached the bottom of the cliff. There, a big hole gaped open, letting water flow into it, creating a wide brook.

"Are we supposed to be in here?", asked Amy, who was now in tears.

"Don't be such a baby, Amy", the dark-haired boy said. His attitude appeared to have changed, and he no longer had the same tone when he spoke to her. "We need to get further in."

The other two children, were too afraid of objecting at this point, so without any more questions, they followed him into the dark cave.

As they walked further, and further in; the cave became darker and darker. The waves made echoing sounds as they hit the rocks, and long stalagmites hung from the cave-ceiling. But what made the children stay quiet was the thought of possible bats sleeping in the darkness. Mrs Mond had told them all sorts of stories about bats; how they sucked the blood out of your neck at night, and how they transformed into people.

Suddenly, the dark-haired boy stopped.

"Tom, what's wrong?", the girl asked, "is it time to go back yet?".

But Tom just stood there, quietly and still. Until he raised his right arm and touched the darkness. They could hear him hit something – a wall. All of a sudden, he turned around.

The expression that was spreading across his face was not the one of a normal child. His mouth portrayed the emotion of happiness, with a wide smile. His eyes displayed the feeling of hatred, and he kept them fixated on the other boy.

"Tom, I think it's time we left", the boy started saying, "Mrs Cole is probably wondering where we are and I am getting really hungry".

"Where you are going you won't need to think about food anymore, Dennis", Tom said coldly, still staring at Dennis. "In fact, you won't even have to think at all".

All of a sudden, Dennis started screaming. It was not the scream of fear or sadness, or even hunger – it was the scream of pain. Bumps started appearing on Dennis' forehead. Then his cheeks, and then his entire skull. When they had grown to the size of a meatball, they started to open. Blood started to run out of the open wounds from the bumps, and Dennis tried to cover them up with his hands to stop the blood from protruding from his head.

Amy had been screaming ever since the bumps started to appear, and tears were pouring down from her eyes, rolling down her cheeks and then onto the already wet ground. Tom turned his gaze to her and took a step in her direction. He grabbed her hair while he smiled at her.

Between the sobs, Amy coughed. First, they were small coughs, but then they became worse, until she coughed so hard something landed by her feet. It was a beetle. She looked down at the beetle and then started crying even more, at the same time as she was coughing up more insects. The coughing grew so intense that she fell to her knees. Before whatever was inside her appeared in front of her aching body, she heard Tom laugh in the background. She also heard Dennis scream and cry; still trying to cover up the wounds.

Then, it appeared. Her body stopped shaking for a short moment, before it started to cramp up. A black mass now lay on the rock, by her shaking hands. It was moving. Before she could make out what it was, it split up into hundreds of black insects flying around her. But they weren't just terrorizing her.

Dennis had pulled his shirt off and was now using it to keep the blood from coming out. However, the blood-stained shirt did not stop the insects from crawling into the open holes. In the moment of panick, he saw no other choice than to jump into the water.

It was cold, colder than he ever imagined it to be. When he broke the surface it felt as if a thousand daggers where pressing their blades into him, and when he resurfaced, he took a deep breath before going under water again. In the short second before diving back down, he thought he had heard someone call his name. A female voice. A woman. Mrs Cole.

He then resurfaced again. Yes, there it was. The voice, and it was Mrs Cole.

Dennis looked over where he knew Tom would be standing, but he wasn't there.. Only Amy was there, kneeling by the rocks. He yelled back to Mrs Cole, to help her find him.

"Oh, children, what were you doing down here?", she cried, "you could have gotten drawn out by currents or fallen down and hurt yourself!"

She helped him up from the water, and his first thought was to feel his head. The bumps were gone and no more blood was running down his face. He looked over at Amy and she seemed to have stopped coughing. But where was Tom?

Mrs Cole helped the children back up to the top of the cliff where the other orphans were waiting with their lunch-packs. Among them sat Tom. Like nothing had happened, he gazed out over the edge, to the sun. Then he turned to the children and Mrs Cole.

"It's not warm enough for a swim today, Dennis", he said calmly.