Enjoy chapter eight! (:

This may never start.
We could fall apart.
And I'd be your memory.
Lost your sense of fear.
Feelings insincere.
Can I be your memory?
Chapter Eight

"What are we riding first?" Hermione craned her neck out of the open truck window. Matt was pulling up to the carnival. It was a spectacle of colors — lights glittered on whirring rides, kids pulled at neon cotton candy and stuffed it in their mouths, light bulbs flashed as games were won, and huge yellow teddy bears were passed from carnival employee to young child with a mega-watt smile.

"Easy there girl," Felicity laughed from the front seat. "I didn't get the impression you were an adrenaline junkie!"

The five of them climbed out of the truck and walked into the festival.

"We should hit the haunted house, definitely." Harlow said excitedly. "Geez, I forget every year this place makes me feel like a kid!"

"I haven't gone to a carnival in ages. At least maybe seven years?" Hermione looked around her at all the sights.

"I've never been to a carnival." Draco said, his tone a strange mix of pride and curiosity.

"We have to ride the Music Express first!" Matt shouted over the crowd. "Are you guys in?"

Matt took Felicity's hand and led Hermione, Draco, and Harlow to a ride in the center of the park. It was a huge circular track, with about ten cars riding on the loop in a large circle. The course was elevated at points, and the riders screamed gleefully as their car raced to the top of the small hills and plummeted.

"Let's do it!" Harlow shouted.

Each car held three people. The group of five split up when they got passed the worker in a red and white striped shirt — Felicity and Matt in one car and Draco, Hermione, and Harlow in another. Draco climbed first, Hermione slipped a little as she sat in the middle, and Harlow got in last. Draco reached up for the bar and pulled it down, crossing over their laps. With a buzz and a bell-ring, the red and white striped man started the ride.

Draco's stomach sank down to his toes. The car sped up a hill and flew down the other side, pulling a shriek from Harlow and Hermione. Draco allowed himself a small smile as his breath caught in his throat.

Harlow put her hands up, her fingers dancing in the air as it rushed past. She tilted her head back and laughed loudly, the car soaring up and down on the circle track. Harlow looked over and grinned at Draco (who was looking paler than usual with a grin on his face) and Hermione (who was flushed and screaming).

Hermione couldn't stop giggling. The lights and colors and people flew by her as the tiny car whirled in circles. Every time the car hit a curve, Harlow was sent sliding into her, and then Hermione would bump into Draco quite forcefully. Hermione's eyes watered as the ride picked up speed and she knocked into Draco. Her heart was beating like a trapped bird in her chest, fluttering against her ribs. Her stomach was turning flips. She felt weightless.

The ride ended a few minutes later. Shaken and dazed, the teens climbed out of the car and walked to meet Matt and Felicity.

"That. Was. Amazing." Hermione breathed, shaking her head slowly.

Harlow let out a loud laugh. "Wasn't it?"

"Want to ride again?" Matt asked the group with a grin.

Draco nodded a little. "Let's do it."

"Okay, three times is enough." Harlow was tripping over herself as she exited Music Express with Draco and Hermione. They had each taken a turn in the middle, and it was more than possible each of them had bruises on their sides from bumping into one another or the side of the car.

"Let's, let's do the haunted house now," Hermione said, catching her breath.

The group walked (rather unsteadily) to a house a small distance away from the carnival itself. Another man in a red and white striped shirt opened a door with a devilish grin. Matt walked in first, then Felicity, still holding his hand, followed by Draco, Hermione, and Harlow.

It was quiet in the house. The first hallway was long and narrow, so they had to walk single-file. Flickering lights sparked from overhead. Along the walls were pictures with moving subjects — a man slow dancing with a woman in a burning room, a cat licking a red-stained knife, two headless bodies standing for a photo, and others. Hermione swallowed and moved on.

At the end of the corridor was a choice to go left or right. Matt chose left. This hall was not lit. Draco slipped his hand in his pocket to check for his wand. All five of them quietly spoke.

"Lumos."

Five blue-white orbs of light appeared. Harlow could now see around the room. It looked like a morgue. The walls were shiny stainless steel with little doors on them. Hermione reached out to touch a handle.

"Hermione don't!" Felicity hissed.

"Oh c'mon," Matt reassured her. Felicity was clinging to Matt like a lifeboat on a sinking ship. "Do it Hermione."

Hermione reached out for the handle with her left hand. It was very cold. She pulled. Nothing. She jerked her arm and then the door slid open. Slowly she opened the small heavy door. At first she thought she saw feet, a dagger pushed right through one foot. But when Hermione pulled the door further out, the body disappeared. She pushed the door closed again. When she pulled it towards her again, the body seemed to be there at first, but then it would vanish…

"Where did it go?" Draco whispered. The four were watching Hermione.

Suddenly Harlow shrieked. There was a hand on her shoulder. She shook it off and whipped around to see the body. A man was standing there, looking rather … dead. Parts of his face had decayed, showing a white cheekbone and pieces of tissue. One ear was missing, and his hair hung in his face in clumps. Yellow eyes widened. His mouth opened, showing broken teeth. A horrible sound issued from it, like some sort of moan-shout.

"OH MY GOD!" Felicity was screaming now, and ran out of the room. Harlow started taking small, stunned steps backward.

Hermione pointed at it and the man's foot. "A dagger, right there! It escaped from the door I opened."

The thing twitched and then started shuffling towards Matt, Draco, Hermione, and Harlow.

"Stupefy!" Draco yelled, his wand aimed at the man.

Then there was laughter. Matt doubled over, clutching his sides, cackling like an idiot.

"Matthew Calvin what is wrong with you?" Harlow cried at her brother.

"It's not real, Harlow!" Matt said between gasps and laughs.

Hermione froze. The man was halfway to Draco, who appeared to have ignored Draco's spell. Draco narrowed his eyes as it came closer. The thing was a foot away when Draco stuck out his wand and poked it in the stomach. It flickered.

"It's not real." Draco said. He felt himself laugh.

"Merlin's beard," Hermione sighed and palmed her forehead. "My heart is going a mile a minute."

The four of them watched as the decaying man walked in circles before disappearing.

"That was pretty good," Harlow said. She was stiffened and put on a false face of composure. "A very good trick."

"He got you guys so good!" Matt was crying now from laughter. "I haven't fallen for that since the first year I walked through this."

"Oh shut up Matt." Harlow prodded her brother with her wand. "We have to find Felicity."

Draco led the way this time. He left the room first, with Matt, Harlow, and Hermione in tow. The next room was covered in mirrors. The floor and three walls all reflected the faces of the group.

"Felicity?" Matt called.

"Matt?" A far off voice responded.

"We're coming babe!" Matt yelled back.

Hermione smiled and titled her head. "You are in love with a nice girl."

Matt stopped walking and chuckled. "Yes, I am. I'm lucky."

"She's a little easily frightened though, isn't she?" Draco smirked.

"Just a tad." Matt held his forefinger and his thumb a small space apart.

"This place is giving me the creeps." Harlow said after a few moments of silence. Every way she turned she saw the same thing. She couldn't tell how far apart the group was, because in all the mirrors it seemed that the four of them were all next to each other. But without noticing, the four of them had split up. Then their wands' light went out.

"It's a sort of darkening charm," Matt's voice explained from an unknown distance away. "It's just to scare you, stay calm guys."

Hermione put her hand on the smooth mirrored wall and walked slowly. She couldn't tell if she was moving closer to the exit or back to the morgue. Then she bumped into something.

"Who is this?" She put her hands out to steady herself. But there was nothing there. Certainly there was an object there a second ago?

"Hermione?" Harlow's hand hit something solid, but then it moved.

"I'm going to count, follow my voice." Matt said. "One, two, three …"

Hermione kept her hands along the wall until she felt something. This time the thing under her fingers was warm. The hand closed around hers and Hermione walked forward with someone in the pitch dark.

"Lumos." Matt's wand lit. Once he was far enough away from the charmed space, his wand would light. His light fell on three faces. Draco was leading Hermione towards Matt, and Harlow was on the other side of the hall.

Harlow turned to see Hermione and Draco only a few feet away from her. "I didn't know you two were so close!"

Draco was confused for a second. Was she speaking about the distance between him and Harlow, or did she notice he found Granger's hand in the dark?

"Matt!" Felicity's voice echoed in the hall before she came into view. Her blonde hair was flying as she raced into Matt's arms.

"Thank God," Harlow grinned. "What made you think leaving the pack was smart, Felicity?"

"No idea." She confessed, shaking her head and letting go of Matt. "Want to try the games now?"