We walked in silence down the street, not even James or Sirius were trying to lighten the mood. Finaly I couldn't take it anymore.
"Ok. I know that we're all kindda freaking out, put I would really like to enjoy the rest of my time here in Hogsmead. We can always talk about it when we get back to the castle." I sighed looking down my line of friends.
"Or not." Muttered James, "I don't really want to talk about it at all."
"I know, but we can't just not talk about it." Lily added.
We dropped into silence again.
"You know what. I'm going to forget about this for now and I'm gonna but myself a whole crap-ton of candy. Because I want to." I stomped my foot to prove my point, even though we were still walking, so I stumbled abit.
All of a sudden, a tiny brown mouse sprinted across the street, people stopping in their tracks so it could pass by safely. A cat, about the size of little kids toy car, ran after it, much faster then the poor rodent. The mouse had run behind a trash bin, and before any one realized what was going to happen, the cat ran straight into the bin. Garbage flew everywhere, the containers falling over with a large clatter. The small cat walked out from the giant mess and trotted right over to us. It mewed an wrapped itself around out feet, weaving back and forth until it reached the end of our line.
"See!" I said, "It's a sign!"
"What the hell kind of sign is that?!" James cried, looking truely confussed with what just happened.
Remus started laughing first, causing a domino effect over all of us. We must have look crazy, standing there with a random cat and laughing insanely.
"I guess it would be easier to have fun if we just forget Creeper McCreeperson for now." Alice said, leaning over to pet the stray cat.
"Honeydukes it is!" I shouted, pointing into the air and starting to run when a look from Remus stopped me. Right. No running in public.
By the time we reached the front doors to the shop, I was bouncing back and forth from one foot to the other.
"Ellie, calm down! You look like your two years old." Lily chuckled, placing a hand on my arm. I just laughed and pulled her inside.
A bell twinkled above our heads as all six of us walked through the door.
"Now Ellie. Try your best to stay calm, and don't-" I didn't wait to hear the rest of Remus' lecture, already skiping to the back of the store. Everything was bright and happy, sparkling under the lights on the ceiling. None of my friends folowed me since they learned from past experiances that if they wnt with me on my candy hunt, they would end up carrying everything for me.
Humming a song that I couldn't quite remember the name of, I passed what looked to be a storage closet. I didn't think anything of it until the door flew open and a gloved hand grabbed my arm.
I tried to scream, but within seconds, a leather covered hand was clamped over my mouth and the door had swung shut. My eyes searched franticaly around the small space for an escape route, but only found empty shelves and a mop. Helpful.
My breath quicked as I studyed my attacker. It was the man from The Three Broomsticks, still in his black outfit and suspicious fedora hat, only this time I noticed a different feature.
A familiar, thin, pink scar ran from the mans cheek to chin, making him instantly recognizable.
"Hunter." I said, though my voice was muffled by his hand so it came out more "Huta."
"Good after noon, mut." He smirked, "Do you think I can remove my hand from your face?"
I nodded my head slowly, still trying to make an escape plan.
"I thought I would come and have a talk with you." He removed his sun glasses.
"In the storage closet at Honeydukes?" I asked, stalling for time.
"Don't get smart with me!" He said, a small fleck of spit landing on my nose.
"Ok, that was gross." I grumbled, raising my hand to wipe my face. "I'm a total germ freak."
"Well, you got the 'freak' part right."
"Clever. How long did it take you to come up with that?" I wanted to waste as much time as possible so I could think.
"Listen here, hound." He moved his hand to under my face, grabbing my chin and forcing me to look at him. "You need to know that I'm here for you. No one ealse."
"So why are you wasting time? Why don't you just kill me, right here at Honeydukes?" I asked against my better judgment.
"Because that wouldn't be fun, would it?" He smiled, "By the way, have any strange nightmares lately?"
I was silent, watching him enjoy seeing the terrible memories flash in my eyes.
"Thats right." He smirked, "It was simple really. Just a quick spell before it got dark outside, and poof! Personalized nightmares. But I'm getting bored of it only happening in dreams."
He pulled a small pocket knife from his, well, pocket and spun it over in his hand, trying to look fancy or scary; maybe both.
I expected that he would keep talking. That I would have more time to think and stall before anything happened, but I was wrong.
He sliced the knife across my shoulder, cutting right through my light brown coat and into my skin. I grimaced, but refused to show him any other signs of weakness.
"One cut at a time wolf." He slid his kinfe back into his pocket, "You'll never see it coming. A suprise everytime."
He swiftly opened the door and stepped out, shutting it behind him and leaving me alone in the small room.
I let one single tear escape as I looked at my shoulder, not sure what I was supposed to do exactly when you have a cut on your shoulder and your left in a closet. I couldn't exactly go to my friends and say "Hey. Oh, the cut on my shoulder that will diffenetly need medical attention? It was nothing really, just that creepy stalker guy who we say early. Did I mention he's also the one who killed my parents?" Yeah, that would go over well.
I took a deep breath and placed my other hand over my wound, ignoring the pain and how gross it actually was. Opening the door with my free hand, (The hand that wasn't hiding the cut) I walked out into the light, trying to pretend that nothing out of the ordinary happened and looking for my friends, wanting to get back to the castle as soon as possible.