Hey everyone! Thank you for reading the story! I would really appreciate any comments or anything you have to say about the story (positive or negative) and I look forward to hearing from you.
Next week I won't be updating (which is why I'm updating twice this week) since I'm going on holiday. I will have a chapter the week after that though and since I already have the story planned I think this will go smoothly for another ten chapters or so. (I hope.)
Lots of love, Shizue-sejin (thought you can call me Gill).
Cold sweat ran down Anna's spine as she stared at a page in her Defence Against the Dark Arts book. Professor Quirrell's stuttering voice was drowned out by her nerves as she opened and closed her hand around her quill. Draco, who sat next to her, kept shooting glances at her every once in a while but every time he did she shook her head and smiled, trying to reassure him -and by extension, herself.
What she was going to do was not Slytherin in the least, it was stupid and rash, but there was no other way to do it. At least, she could think of no other way. But this was made her extremely uncomfortable and... vulnerable. If she was wrong, which she very well could be, Quirrell could inform Dumbledore and then she could say goodbye to Draco and her family.
A small sigh escaped her lips and she shivered. Theo, who sat with Blaise at the desk next to theirs, turned to her with a worried frown. Maybe her nerves were more easily seen than she thought. Cursing inwardly, she closed her eyes and tried to calm down. Her attention went to her magic. She had always been able to feel it, like most witches and wizards could, and to her it had always felt like an ocean or a heart. Pulsating inside her, warming her up from the center. With her current stress level, her magic was behaving erratically and moving about in looping gestures which annoyed her greatly. Anna bit her lip as she tried to calm it down, which was more difficult than it used to be since now there was a barrier between her and her magical core -which she hadn't known was her magical core before but her point was made.
Suddenly Draco was shaking her arm and, as she looked up she realised that the bell that signaled the end of class had just rang. All her classmates were already packing their bags and her friends had noticed her spacing out. Draco was looking at her worriedly, Daphne and Pansy with a mixture of puzzlement and amusement, Blaise was looking around to see if anyone else had noticed, Greg and Vince were black rocks as always and Theo... Theo was looking at her with a blank face, but when he caught her eyes he mouthed the question 'Are you alright?' to which she just nodded and stood.
"You all go ahead. I have to talk to Quirrell for a second. I'll see you in the dungeon." Without looking at them she packed her back and walked to the center of the class, passing Tracey and Millicent who both raised their brows at her. She shook her head and just continued.
Anna stood in front of Professor Quirrell's desk, waiting until all the other students had trickled out of the room to clear her throat. At the small sound, the teacher turned back from the board, where he had -manually- been wiping off all he had written. His brown eyes widened at the sight of her.
"C- can I he-help you miss Connors?" He stuttered, stepping closer.
Anna's hand tightened around her wand in her pocket. She suspected he was a follower of her Lord, but he had cast something on her before. She was not about to let her guard down.
"Um, Professor?" She tried to make herself appear as innocent as possible. "You know about the Philosopher's Stone on the third floor right?"
Anna kept her eyes fixed on Quirrell. He blinked a few times before biting his lip.
"I d-don't know what you're t-t-talking about." She could hear he was starting to force his stutter. It was fake?
"Yes, you do, right? You want it for my parents' master. I know it's you."
Quirrell stared at her, his face hardened and the forced smile slipped off his face. In a movement too quick for her to follow her whipped out his wand and waved it at the door. Anna jumped as the heavy door slammed shut with an ear deafening smash and she held her wand so tightly she was afraid it would snap. The man stood, turning his back on her, and walked to the window. He seemed to be muttering to himself and unconsciously touching his dark red turban.
Anna waited patiently. She had pressed the right buttons and he wasn't denying it anymore. It had been a stupidly reckless thing to do, confronting him like this, but what else could she do? Nothing, she told herself. Then Quirrell looked back at her. Red was slowly taking over his irises and a gasp escaped her lips. A pull appeared in her chest and she let it drag her towards the figure. At a certain point her knees buckled and she kneeled in front of him.
The voice that sounded did not come from Quirrell's mouth, however, but from around him.
"Hello there, Annabelle." The voice was raspy, as if it had barely been used for years, and it hurt her ears. It forced its way into her head and she suddenly felt like throwing up. The sound spiked and she closed her eyes, clutching her head.
"Yes, those are side effects of the unfinished ritual. Nothing can be done about that now, I only took the direct pain of my presence but, the amount of dark magic I have might have an adverse effect on you." He paused and the red eyes studied her. "But my magic inside you will have a more permanent effect."
Anna couldn't speak as she stared up into his eyes.
"This is not my current form, I will not show you that one." The Dark Lord -for he could not be Quirrell at this point- stepped forwards and placed a cold hand on her cheek, slightly piercing her skin with his nails. "But you will be useful anyway, won't you?"
Anna's lips moved against her will and she heard her voice respond of its own accord. "Of course, my Master."
Anna stepped back into the Slytherin Dungeon, her mind buzzing with all the information she just got. Planning and more planning. She didn't know of how much help she could be, she doubted she would do any more than just stand in the way, but that was not what worried her. The thing that was gnawing at her insides, corroding her and making bile rise up her throat was the fact that she had gone along with all this without actually accepting. Something had taken control of her, she had felt it. Not complete control since she could still tell apart her own thoughts from the ones that didn't belong there, but something had spoken in her stead, something had moved her body and that was what had her trembling in fear.
How could she not control herself? What was it? Was it his magic? He said it will have a more permanent effect. Did that mean that... his magic influenced her actions? Like before at the orphanage when she had a deeply ingrained need to please the red eyes which she now knew were his? But if she could tell now that it wasn't her own need that moved her, why hadn't she been able to tell before?
There was something different. Anna's hands were clutched around her back-pack as she looked around the dungeon. Her friends had noticed her and were waiting patiently for her to come over. Anna froze in her tracks and she felt her clothing sticking to her skin which was drenched in sweat. She swallowed.
They were looking at her curiously now. Draco and Theo were worried - no, they all looked worried. She knew she looked off. She felt off. Dying, controlled, sick, alone, lost, what else was she? Her lips started trembling and she lowered her gaze from them, making them all recoil in shock. Anna had never been anything other than a proud person. She didn't lower her gaze from anyone. There was obviously something wrong. But instead of walking towards them, she turned away and ran ro her room, slamming the door shut behind her.
"Annie?" Draco whispered as he gently knocked on her door. It was the middle of the night. He couldn't sleep, not after having seen the utter terror in her eyes. With that kind of fear, she wouldn't be able to sleep, that was for sure. "Annie, I'm alone. Please let me in? Please?"
Draco closed his eyes and leaned his forehead against the door as he waited to hear any sign of life from the other side. Soon enough, though, there was a low sound of shifting and the lock clicked open. He pushed the door open and squinted as he looked inside the pitch black room. It was cleaner than it had been a week ago. All the books had been returned, all her scrolls and utensils had been stored, all her clothing had been folded and tucked away, but her bed was a mess. The sheets had been dragged away from the bed and all of the pillows and blankets had been piled in a corner of the room, where Anna now sat bundled up and holding her wand.
"Draco?"
"It's me." He whispered. "Can I come in?"
Faintly, he saw her nod and he stepped inside. He got down on all fours and crawled over to her, where she lifted the blankets to let him get inside her fortress with her. Draco sat beside her and put and arm around her shoulders, with his other hand he pulled all the blankets over their heads. His forehead rested against hers and their body heat couldn't escape the blankets, making the air they breathed in thick and heavy.
"Do you want to talk about it?"
Anna hesitated. "I'm scared."
"Of what?"
"I can't tell you."
"Are... you in danger?"
"I don't know. Probably."
He sighed and nodded. "Does it have something to do with your condition?"
"Yes."
"Are you dying?"
"... Not at the moment."
Draco paused for a long time before deciding that she wasn't going to get any clearer than this. He nodded and pulled her down in a lying position against the thick pillows behind them.
"Thank you." He said.
"For what?"
"For letting me in."
Anna sat with Draco in the courtyard, for once not reading anything but just sitting and staring at the clouds. Her hand was clenched around his arm, but she seemed immersed in his book. It was tonight. Tonight she would go with her Lord to get the stone. She wasn't afraid of the defences, there was no way they would stop him even in a weakened state. She was afraid of what his magic would do to her. She knew she should just accept it, since until now it had never made her do something that she truly didn't want to do. What frightened her was the possibility of that happening, however. If her actions weren't her own, how could she live her life?
Anna closed her eyes and let her head fall back, letting the back of her head rest against Theo's back. He sat behind her, also reading, with his legs crossed, absent mindedly pulling out blades of grass. Greg and Vince were -for some reason- playing gobstones a few paces away, Blaise was dozing off beside her and the girls; Pansy, Daphne, Tracey and Millicent were reading and discussing an article from Witch Weekly. Once again.
She sighed softly and forced herself to let her tension slide off her shoulders. Theo's back tensed against hers and she cracked open an eye. He put and arm against her back and turned around, keeping her back in place but then he suddenly let her fall. She glared up at him from her position of her head on his lap. He looked down at her with an amused glint in his brown eyes.
"What was that for?" She growled.
"I felt like it." He snickered and held up his book. "I'm done with this. Feel like walking with me to the library to get the next one?"
She frowned. "Fine." Anna looked at Draco, who had watched the whole interaction with raised brows. "We'll be right back."
Draco shrugged and turned back to his book, which ironically enough, was about dragon species. His encounter with a baby one had not only sparked an intense fear of the creatures, but also a morbid fascination with them. Though he claimed he would never get near one, she doubted that was true.
Theo got up and held a hand out to her, laughing when she tried to reach it from her position on the ground. "You'll have to straighten up for that."
She sighed and sat up, grabbing his hand in the process. He pulled her up immediately, almost making her fall forwards but, luckily, she caught her balance on time. Theo nodded at her and took off with Anna at his side. Anna, for one, couldn't fathom why she let him get away with being so insufferable. It probably had something to do with the fact that he was much like her, only with a less... complicated place on the chessboard.
"Somehow," He whispered to her. "I get the feeling that you're not alright, Anna. Would you tell me why?"
"No." She whispered back. "Not yet. I just need to get my mind off a few things."
Theo turned to her. The amused smile he had had at their departure gone, as if it had never been there in the first place. His eyes traveled up and down her face before narrowing, a look of suspicion that would look out of place on the face of any eleven year old other than him. He nodded, keeping a hand wrapped around her wrist.
"Alright then, Annabelle." He used her real name and said it in a low, respectful voice. "What would you like to think of instead?"
Anna paused. "I believe I do not know much about you, mr Nott. Yet, you know almost all about me." A sharp grin tugged at her lips. "I hardly think that's fair."
"Nothing in life is fair. Yet I'll indulge you, once we get back to the Dungeon after dinner. If you wish. For now, look over there." He pointed.
The Weasley twins were huddled in a corner, whispering to each other. Their eyes snapped from one side to the other and their mouths were curled up in mischievous smiles. They were planning a prank. Their pranks were not... evil in the sense of the word, but they were unpleasant. They didn't physically harm anyone but they didn't hold any importance in the one person's pride as long as the rest had fun. They weren't cruel, but if their target was a slytherin, they wouldn't hesitate. No matter what they had or hadn't done.
Anna held her pale wand in her hand and she noticed Theo do the same. This was why Slytherins ever travelled alone.
"There you are, Annabelle." Quirrell said, as Anna stepped onto the thrid floor corridor. She was wearing a dark cloak and her hair had been tied back. She noticed his eyes weren't red, so the Dark Lord must have believed that Quirrell was enough to get the job done. As to why, she didn't know, he seemed to be just another clumsy fool. But it wasn't her place to question his decisions, she had been told how cruel he could be even to his most loyal of followers. Just because he was her... godfather didn't mean he would indulge her.
Anna nodded and followed him down the hall. They stopped in front of Fluffy's door and the man turned to her.
"Keep as quiet as you can when around it."
Anna nodded and, with a wave of his wand, the door swung open without a sound. He grabbed her by the arm and they walked inside. He waved his wand again and a golden harm appeared in a corner of the room. Sweet music started resounding and immediately, the beast's snores deepened.
Anna held up her wand and whispered: "Lumos."
The trapdoor was easy to spot and it was completely uncovered. Quirrell moved over to it and opened it. He held his wand down, casting the light charm silently. He inspected what was down below for a second before beckoning for her to come forwards. She kneeled by his side and saw a mass of deep green vines spread out like a mattress on the floor down below.
"Devil's Snare." He whispered. "When you fall, it will wrap itself around you. Do not fight it, if you do it will choke you."
Anna looked up at him, her eyes widening in fear.
"If you keep your body completely relaxed it will simply let you pass to the nest level. Ready?"
Before she could answer he pushed her down. In an effort not to scream she bit her tongue and the metallic hot taste of blood flooded her mouth. She landed with a dull thud on the plant, wincing as her butt started throbbing but she froze immediately as the plant started moving beneath her. Anna bit her lip and shut her eyes, trying to relax her body, something which was proving very difficult as the vines were cold, rough and strong.
She barely registered Quirrell landing beside her until he placed a hand on her shoulder. Her grey eyes turned to him, barely making out his face in the dark, but she knew what he wanted. She nodded and took a deep breath, forcing herself to stay calm. Within a few seconds, the plant pushed her down and she landed painfully on the cold stone floor below.
Anna covered her mouth in an effort not to puke as she hopped around puddles of troll blood. Quirrell had been brutal and, honestly, she couldn't say that he was a bumbling idiot anymore. She had been able to get used to troll stench easily enough, but blood had a different quality to it. She passed her bitten tongue over her teeth, her mouth was still flooded with her own blood but it was slowly starting to heal.
She followed Quirrell through the next door. The next room was simple enough. It was clean, well lit and only had a table in the center. A row of bottles and a scroll of paper were placed on it, glinting innocently in the candle light. As soon as they stepped closer to the table, though, purple flames came to life behind them, blocking the entrance, and black flames blocked the next door. Quirrell hurried over to the scroll and opened it.
"It's a riddle." He said and looked at her. "You do it."
Anna frowned. Alright, so she hadn't done anything with Fluffy, the Snare, the chess set or the troll. She had gotten the key though, the scratches on her arms still itched, thank you very much. She grabbed the scroll from his hands and let her eyes travel down the riddle.
Danger lies before you, while safety lies behind,
Two of us will help you, whichever you would find,
One among us seven will let you move ahead,
Another will transport the drinker back instead,
Two among our number hold only nettle wine,
Three of us are killers, waiting hidden in line.
Choose, unless you wish to stay here for evermore,
To help you in your choice, we give you these clues four:
First, however slyly the poison tries to hide,
You will always find some on nettle wine's left side;
Second, different are those who stand on either end,
But if you would move onwards neither is your friend;
Third, as you see clearly, all are different size,
Neither dwarf not giant hold death in their insides;
Fourth, the second left and the second from the right
Are twins once you taste them, though different at first sight
A low groan escaped her throat as she mulled the clues over. Her eyes travelled from bottle to bottle, weighing down her options. After what seemed an eternity, Anna picked up a small yellow bottle, the third from the left.
"This one." She said and swallowed a mouthful.
Quirrell did the same, leaving only enough for one person more in the bottle, and walked towards the black flames. He didn't hesitate before stepping through. Anna followed.