The Blood-Red Moon

It was already half past ten when Parvati staggered out of the library. After hours of futile searching, she had finally found what she was looking for—she now knew where the Valley of the Marsh Ghosts was. In her bag, she was carrying a small location plan that she had already bewitched with the Invisibility Spell.

"You want WHAT?" she cried in shock ten minutes later, after a completely distraught Lavender had met her in the dormitory and breathlessly told her about Draco's assault. "No, not another one of those shitty actions, Lavender! And then Draco Malfoy on top of it! How can you even consider that after that shit he pulled on you? I forbid you to do that, do you hear me?"

"But, Parvati! What am I supposed to do?" Lavender's eyes were brimming with tears and she grasped Parvati's hand. "You should have seen him … what he threatened me with!"

"You're impressed by that?" Parvati tried to sound resolute, yet she was stunned by what she had just heard. "Listen, Malfoy is the biggest wimp running around here! You don't have to take what he says seriously!"

"He says he's gonna hurt you!"

"But that doesn't mean you have to go to bed with him!" exclaimed Parvati. "That'll be the day!"

"And he claims he can do the Unforgivable curses! Jeez, he'll kill me if I don't come! Or you!"

"And I'll kill you if you go," Parvati said bluntly. "Take your pick!"

"What shall I do?" repeated Lavender despondently.

"Don't go," Parvati said firmly. "We can deal with him like this. If he messes with us, we'll just call Dumbledore and Snape in! I have no problem with that!"

"He says they can't do anything to him either," Lavender muttered.

Parvati looked at her friend scrutinisingly. "My god, he has really intimidated you," she observed.

"Oh—you don't say! I'd like to know how you'd have reacted if someone was witching your clothes off and you were panicking all the time that he was going to rape you right there and then!" Lavender retorted fiercely, her voice wavering.

"It's okay, I'm sorry! I don't think I would have survived it in the first place …" Parvati tried to imagine what it must be like to stand involuntarily naked in front of a boy and be at his mercy—but her brain just wouldn't do it.

With weak knees she slumped down on the bed. He must have completely lost control of himself now! The story with the broom was hard enough—but that he is capable of something like that … but maybe no wonder with what he has to face tomorrow …

"I'm really scared of him," Lavender said. "You should have seen him, he's completely nuts! And you're taking him too lightly, as usual!"

"Who's been playing around with him all this time?" asked Parvati indignantly. "I've really left him alone since the talk at Dumbledore's!"

"He started it," Lavender defended herself. "And I was actually quite friendly about it. Well, apparently I was too friendly," she sighed. She sat down next to Parvati, pulled her legs close to her body and wrapped her arms around her knees. "Now I really understand what Severus was trying to warn us about the other day …"

Both girls fell into silence, Parvati staring at the pattern of her bed cover as a choking fear slowly spread through her. She was nowhere near as confident as she pretended to be in front of Lavender, who still had no clue what must be going on in Draco's head. What would happen when he really snapped? An inwardly renegade Death Eater with nothing left to lose …

And, with an anxious feeling, she thought of the plan in her bag.

"You know what was strange?" said Lavender after a while, lost in thought. "I had the feeling all the time that he was afraid of something himself. His looks were … so rushed. And his kiss … felt kind of desperate!"

Parvati's stomach tightened. Of course he's scared!, she thought. It's really no wonder that he wants to fulfil one last wish the night before. He reckons it could be the last time …

She looked at Lavender, whose gaze had something enraptured about it—unbelievable, but true. "And how was the kiss otherwise?" she asked her friend in a drawling voice.

Lavender wheeled around. "Uh, how …?"

"I have a feeling you kind of liked it," Parvati said dryly, to which Lavender's eyes widened in disbelief. "Are you stupid? Well … it was definitely better than with Ron," she finally murmured.

Parvati gave a snort. "Okay, that was the negative control!"

Both girls giggled hollowly. "Yeah … it wasn't that bad," Lavender then admitted. "If it hadn't been Draco Malfoy, of all people …"

At dinner, their eyes crossed with the Slytherin's, just as they did at night during their Astronomy lesson. Parvati did not leave Lavender's side for an inch, and Lavender, for her part, hardly let go of her friend's hand.

After the lesson, Professor Sinistra dismissed her students saying, "Don't forget the lunar eclipse! Tomorrow from midnight onwards!"

How could I?, Parvati thought as she and Lavender got up from their chairs and covered their telescope with the protective cover. With heads held high, the girls then walked past Draco, who was loitering smugly in the doorway with Blaise, not even looking at him. But they both felt his burning gaze at their backs all the long way to the stairwell.

"Maybe I should go, after all …" Lavender whispered to Parvati as they got ready for the night. Hermione had already gone to bed, where she immediately fell asleep.

"Are you insane!" hissed Parvati. "Don't let him upset you like that! Or do you want it?" She looked at Lavender searchingly.

"No!"

"There you go! Come in my bed, I'll caress you for a while!" Parvati ordered resolutely, and Lavender didn't need to be told twice.

They didn't see him again until lunch the next day, and the look in his eyes made their blood run cold.

As they left the Great Hall as quickly as they could after dinner, Draco immediately catched up with them and grabbed Lavender's arm hard. "You're gonna regret that, Brown!" he hissed, his eyes blazing ominously.

"Hey, hey!" cried Parvati. "Don't you ever touch her again, you perverted swine! Do you hear me?"

"Shut up, mudblood! You're just jealous that no one wants you!" Draco returned nonchalantly and only squeezed Lavender's arm tighter.

"Why don't you just fuck off!" shouted Parvati heatedly. She went for Draco and grabbed him by the collar of his robe.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you, Miss Patil," she heard a familiar voice behind her. Parvati turned around and stared wordlessly into her Potions teacher's eyes, which were half covered by his dark hair and looked somehow tired today.

Slowly she took her grip off Draco, not without neatly adjusting his collar. He just stared at her speechlessly and his grey eyes were suddenly pure despair. He's so scared he hardly knows his name, Parvati thought. A cold breeze seemed to blow on her, and despite everything Draco had done yesterday, she almost felt sorry for him again.

"We had that talk at Professor Dumbledore's last week," Snape said in a low voice, rubbing his temple briefly as if he had a headache. "I take it you remember?"

"Yes, of course, sir," Parvati said grudgingly.

"No more provocations," said Snape. "No acts of violence! And, what do I have to see here? Have you still not processed enough whelks?"

A haughty grin appeared on Draco's face and Parvati's pity dissolved into nothingness. She would have liked to just punch him right in the middle.

"He started it!" she defended herself. "He attacked Lavender—" She broke off. What was the point of reporting Draco? Snape would always stand by him. But still, she wondered how he would react if she told him here, on the spot, about Draco's assault in the changing room. Would he really blame Lavender alone?

"Yes, Miss Patil. Of course he started it," Snape sneered, and Parvati had her answer. "Just like always, right?"

"Professor Snape," Parvati said, struggling for self-control. "Do you actually think I'm going to grab Malfoy—Mister Malfoy by his collar just for fun? I actually have better things to do after lunch!"

"Nice!" hissed Snape, now visibly annoyed. "That's really nice! Then please go and do it, whatever it is! And if I hear of another incident like this, you'll be in real trouble! Come on, Draco!"

He grabbed his godson by the arm and pulled him with him towards the dungeons without turning around again. He's totally worn out!, Parvati thought with a dull feeling. He hasn't even deducted any points from us!

Instead, Draco gave them a few more hateful glances over his shoulder—and Parvati could see his panic in them.

Lavender beside her noisily let the pent-up air escape from her lungs. "Oh God! Can I even venture out of the Gryffindor rooms? Parvati, he'll flatten us as soon as he can!"

"We'll see," Parvati only said and grinned faintly. She ignored Lavender's questioning look.

Parvati had been searching the library all yesterday afternoon to find this confounded valley and had indeed succeeded. The Valley of the Marsh Ghosts was, in her estimation, only about half an hour's flight from Hogwarts.

But what am I going to do with it now?, she thought. I'm not seriously going to go and see that … Death Eater meeting?! See what Severus sees? No, that would be absolutely suicidal!

But just stay here and stare at the moon? While Severus and Draco … Again she remembered the looks in the eyes of the two Slytherins when they had clashed after lunch; the flickering despair in Draco's grey eyes, the restrained tension in Severus's dark ones.

And the further the day progressed, the stronger this dull feeling in Parvati's stomach became, the more edgy she became. In Defence against the Dark Arts, she didn't get a single word of the monotonous monologue that Professor Ashley unleashed on the class—but this pseudo-teacher was a bit under the weather today anyway. He kept losing the thread and tried to find it again by frantically leafing through his books, after which he strutted up and down in front of the class with his arms folded tightly in order to utter the next few sentences.

This is really deadly!, thought Parvati, who exchanged eye-rolling glances with Harry. But at least it stops him from just picking people. I hope he gets ill!

Sullenly, she stared out the window and watched the Slytherins romping on the Quidditch pitch—for them, class was already over today. Even at this distance, she could make out Draco's shock of hair shining brightly in the sun, its owner doing leisure, sweeping laps above his teammates.

Padma, Lisa and Hermione kept putting their hands up and sharing their knowledge; Lavender, on the other hand, was almost constantly producing little notes, completely unnoticed by Ashley, alternately mocking the fact that Ron had sat down next to Mandy Brocklehurst and expressing her delight at the upcoming lunar eclipse.

Parvati mechanically wrote a few lines back each time, then stared out of the window again and racked her brain. It took her almost until the end of this grotty, boring double lesson to admit to herself that apparently she really was tired of living. She wanted to see what Severus had to see. To get a glimpse into this dark side of his life. To know what images went through his mind while he exposed defenceless students in front of the entire class or gave them endless detentions. And to understand what Draco was afraid of, if he had to use such means as he did with Lavender …

Maybe my imagination should just be enough for that, she kept telling herself. I don't have to see with my own eyes how terrible it is when someone is murdered …

An icy shiver ran through her; at that moment Lavender puffed her furtively in the side and pressed another small piece of parchment into her hand. Sighing, Parvati lowered her gaze and read: "Do you think S. will also come to the observatory later? I bet he's interested in something like that!"

Parvati grinned forcedly. Yes, he certainly has an excellent view from his location!, she thought grimly. She pushed the note back into Lavender's hand without comment. She simply no longer had the strength to answer her friend's guileless questions.

But at least, Lavender had brought her back down to earth a little. I'll stay here and go to the observatory with Lavender later, she said to herself. I can't fly there! If something happens to me on the way … or what if someone sees me? After all, I can't make myself invisible … And Severus certainly wouldn't be amused if some Death Eater suddenly dragged me by the hair to Voldemort's feet!

For the first time in the lesson, she dipped her quill into the inkpot to write down the mountain of homework Professor Ashley was about to give them. Well, at least I'll have something to do tonight!, thought Parvati, almost relieved. But that whispering voice inside her was already making itself known, hardly giving her any peace: So you want to hide behind your oh-so-important homework, even though you know exactly what is going to happen just half an hour's broom flight away from you …

Parvati was torn, and the despair about it paralysed her limbs. She would have liked to bury herself in her bed straightaway with a hot-water bottle and all her homework, to not come out of there again before noon tomorrow. But some dark force seemed to emanate from this unfortunate valley and reach out its long fingers for Parvati's soul. She was completely powerless against it.

At dinner, she choked down a roll so as not to arouse suspicion, her stomach feeling as if it had been plastered shut. A quick glance at the High Table—Severus still hadn't shown up. Parvati remembered how exhausted he had looked after lunch. He certainly wasn't in the mood for food or chattering colleagues today. Her chest tightened, and there was that almost overpowering desire in her again—to be with him, in his darkest hours …

No! I'm not going there!, she immediately called herself to order. What if they really kill someone tonight … how am I supposed to live with that? And I wouldn't even do so if someone caught me … that really wouldn't help anyone!

As she reached for the teapot, she met Harry's gaze sitting a few seats away from her. "Today at eight?" his lips formed soundlessly, and Parvati nodded in trepidation. And suddenly it occurred to her how she could indeed make herself invisible …

Her legs felt like lead as she climbed the stairs to the seventh floor at just before eight, together with Harry, Ron and the other boys from her class, and entered the Room of Requirement, which, like last time, was equipped with all the utensils they needed to train.

This time, more people had come than last time. Ginny entered the room shortly after them, together with her friend Eve Carrington, the Creevey brothers and Luna Lovegood from Ravenclaw; also Ernie McMillan, Justin Finch-Fletchley, Susan Bones and Hannah Abbott from Hufflepuff did themselves the honour of joining.

To open the lesson, Harry began again with the Disarming Charm, which could not be practised often enough, as he kept emphasising. "An enemy without a wand is the best enemy you can imagine. And it buys you time to deal with him—perhaps even amicably …"

They split into pairs, Parvati practised with Dean. The exercise did her good, distracted her a little from this dark feeling inside her, against which she could defend herself less and less.

"Great!" roared Harry enthusiastically, after she had managed for the third time in a row to relieve Dean of his wand before he could react in any way. "With that you can do something in an emergency! And now the Full Body-Bind curse …"

They practised for another half hour, during which Harry almost gushed with excitement about Parvati's responsiveness. And with every word of praise he uttered, her guilty conscience doubled. Finally, a furtive glance at her watch confirmed that she couldn't put it off any longer. In half an hour at the latest, the meeting would be over. And Parvati still had something to do …

As Dean bent down to tie his shoelaces, Parvati sneaked over to Harry, who was assisting Ron and Neville, and whispered, "Hey, I'm not feeling so good … I'll go, okay?"

"What's wrong?" asked Harry anxiously.

"Oh … headache, sort of," Parvati said vaguely. "Nothing bad. But I think I'd better rest a bit …"

"It's okay," Harry said. "You can do it anyway!" He grinned. "Get well soon!"

As Parvati walked to the door, she was jostled sharply from the right—it was none other than Ginny, who had dodged her friend Eve's Body-Bind curse and jumped Parvati full force in the side in the process. "Man, can't you be careful!" she hissed at the younger girl, rubbing her upper arm.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to!" returned Ginny snappishly. "As a DA member you're supposed to be less squeamish, don't you think?"

Without another word and with a bad feeling, Parvati left the Room of Requirement; in the corridor she immediately began to run. Breathlessly, she arrived in the common room, where, to her infinite relief, neither Lavender nor Hermione were present.

Quickly she went to the spiral staircase leading to the boys' area and, with a wildly beating heart, crept into Harry's dormitory. After a short while she found what she was looking for: Harry had deposited his precious Invisibility Cloak exactly where she used to hide her diary: under the mattress. The fabric of the cloak felt smooth and silky in her hands and was so thin that it could easily fit into her robe pocket when folded up.

I hope he doesn't notice! she thought as she hastily stuffed it under her own mattress when she arrived back in her dormitory. Tomorrow, I'll bring it right back …

"There you are," called Lavender, who had just entered the dormitory, and Parvati wheeled around guiltily. But Lavender went straight to her bed and pulled out her Comet. "Are you coming to watch the moonrise?"

What if Harry sees me? Parvati thought, but then she remembered that there was not a single window in the Room of Requirement. "Okay," she said and reached for her warm cloak. For a short ride, there should still be enough time. Besides, it will pass more quickly then, she thought, as she sat down on the broom behind Lavender and hurled herself out of the bedroom window with her.

They flew to the lake as usual and did their rounds there, cheering. The sun had just sunk behind the forest, and not three minutes later, the full moon rose over the lake like a huge dark red pumpkin. "Oh, it's so beautiful!" Lavender exclaimed exuberantly, spreading her arms wide.

Her long open hair fluttered in Parvati's face and her throat tightened as she watched the moon slowly rise higher through the hazy veils on the horizon.

The blood-red moon, thought Parvati. And in a few hours it will be blood-red again because the earth will cast its shadow on it. Then disaster can take its course … again Parvati felt the evil like a cold breeze skim over her.

She clung tighter to Lavender and pressed her face against her friend's back, who took Parvati's gesture as an invitation to dive vertically into the depths, jubilating.

If only I could fly like that! Parvati hadn't been on a broom without Lavender for years—she wasn't even sure if she could make it to the valley with her modest flying skills. But there was no other way. She couldn't Apparate alone, and Severus certainly wouldn't miss it if she clung to his arm.

She spent the rest of the evening with Lavender in the common room, who was looking forward to the lunar eclipse like a little child and getting more and more excited. "Shall we go to the observatory or fly again?" she asked Parvati.

"Um—as you like," Parvati said, her mind completely elsewhere.

"Okay, both!" determined Lavender, bouncing up and down on her chair. Then she paused and looked at her friend appraisingly. "You're not really happy!"

"Yes, yes," Parvati hastened to assure them. "I'm just a little tired …"

"Are you feeling well?" asked Lavender suspiciously. "Somehow you're quite pale. Well, a cold would really be the last thing I—"

"Don't worry, I'm not sick," Parvati said, and Lavender breathed a sigh of relief. "Then it's—" her voice lowered to a whisper, "because of Harry?"

Oh, not again, Parvati thought wanly.

"Well, this is the opportunity today," Lavender murmured conspiratorially, puffing Parvati in the side. "I mean, lunar eclipse … it can't get much more romantic than that! All you have to do is make sure you sit next to Harry in the observatory later and look through a telescope with him! And don't let that one trick you!" She pointed her chin at Ginny, who actually dared to play a round of wizard's chess against the unsuspecting Harry. "She's got the hots for him, a blind man could see that!"

How am I going to get rid of Lavender?, thought Parvati, and a wild impatience spread through her. She will stick to me like glue all night. But I have to fly off from here at half past midnight at the latest …

But in the end, Lavender's absolute obsession with astronomical events came to her rescue—her friend wanted to go to the observatory already at midnight so that she wouldn't miss the moon entering the penumbra of the earth (which would be almost invisible to the naked eye). Parvati asked with relief, "Do you mind if I join you later? I'm really dead tired. Still from the detention …"

"Yes, you poor thing," Lavender said with a grin. "Get some rest now, it's not really going to start for another two hours! Is it okay if I go already?"

"Yeah, sure!" said Parvati, who could hardly wait for Lavender to finally buzz off.

"But don't you oversleep!" Lavender stood up and pulled her cloak over herself. "Do you want me to pick you up later?"

"That's all right, I'll set my alarm!"

Lavender left and Parvati immediately dashed into her dormitory. There she slipped into jeans, trainers and a thick jumper, over which she still pulled her cloak. Then she took Harry's Invisibility Cloak from under the mattress, stood in front of the mirror and pulled it over her head.

A smorgasbord of smells overwhelmed her—Harry and Ron's shaving lotions, a faint whiff of Hermione's perfume, harsher scents of sweat and hair grease …

"Urgh," Parvati gasped as her head reappeared. "Is it forbidden to wash that thing?" Her eyes fell on her reflection, of which only her head remained. Where the rest of her body should have been, only Lavender's bed was reflected in the background, where Hermione's tomcat Crookshanks had been extensively grooming himself until just now and was now watching the action with glittering eyes.

"Wicked," she whispered, fascinated. She had known about the existence of this cloak for years, of course, but to experience its effect first hand was something else entirely.

She pulled the hood over her face, the fabric of which was so thin that one could see through it. There was nothing of her in the mirror now. It only showed Lavender's bed and the poster on the wall above it. And Crookshanks, who had risen to all fours and let out a slight hiss.

"What do you want?" growled Parvati at him. "You'd tell on me if you could, wouldn't you?" Ever since Crookshanks had eaten her rat years ago, she had only believed that cat-creature capable of the worst. Although the look from his large, dilated pupils suddenly seemed more like a warning to her …

Okay, girl. Parvati straightened up. You can't stand here forever … what if Hermione comes in now!

Sighing, she dropped to her knees and dragged her broom out from the far corner under her bed, which was completely dusty and full of spider webs. "How disgusting," she said half aloud as she held the thing out the window and beat it briefly, sneezing hard. Then she sat on it and pushed herself off the ground with trembling legs.

Wow, it's still working, she thought in amazement as she actually hovered a yard above the ground in an instant. Crookshanks had jumped off the bed, mewing, and performed a veritable dance in a strenuous attempt to catch Parvati's leg with both front paws—despite the Invisibility Cloak, the animal seemed to know exactly where her limbs were.

At one point, Crookshanks managed to dig his claws into the thin fabric of the cloak, snarling, but Parvati shook him off unwillingly and moved a little more away from the ground. It's like he's trying to hold me back, she thought apprehensively, as a sense of unreality slowly crept over her. But I don't think anyone can do that now … Anxiously, she approached the wide-open window and carefully let herself drift out.

At the sight of the yawning depths below, Parvati immediately felt nauseous and her heart began to beat furiously. Oh God! I can't do this! This is completely insane what I am trying to do here!

But she did not fly back, instead recalling Madam Hooch's guiding principles for beginners: "Never look down! Pretend you are flying just a few feet above the ground!"

I would love to do that! But then the risk is too great that someone will see my broom! With sweaty hands, she clutched her handle. Off we go!

Parvati directed her gaze upwards and her broom quickly gained height as if almost by itself. Then she flew off in the direction indicated by the small map in her robe pocket, without once looking down or back to the castle. Her fear of going into a spin just by looking was far too great.

I should have tried it before, she thought as she hurtled through the air, clutching the broomstick tightly. That one can get out of practice like that …

She couldn't help thinking of her mother, who had told her only yesterday to take care of herself. If she knew … she would beat the daylights out of me! Parvati knew it was really madness what she was doing here.

She was flying to a Death Eater meeting where she would be killed or worse if anyone noticed her presence. And she was doing it with her nearly not existing flight skills and a merely moderately developed sense of direction; she couldn't say for sure about either of them whether they would ever get her to her destination. Besides, the moon was full—in fact, any half-blind person could spot her seemingly masterless broom in the sky!

Parvati had to fly very high to avoid the latter, and after only ten minutes she was completely frozen, despite her thick clothes. She could no longer feel her hands—maybe I should have tried wearing gloves, she thought in a faint touch of gallows humour. She didn't even want to think about the earmuffs that had been lying untouched in the back corner of her wardrobe for five years. Because the stiff headwind constantly blew her hood back, her ears were already the purest icicles, too.

For a while, she flew between heaven and earth and felt incredibly small and lost. Since there were few things to orientate herself by apart from the position of the moon, after a short time she no longer knew whether she had really taken the correct direction. Maybe I should just turn back, she thought despondently. Anyone with an ounce of sense in their brain would probably advise me to do that. Even Crookshanks wanted to hold me back.

But immediately afterwards, with a dull feeling in her stomach, she had to ask herself if she would even be able to find her way back. From the Valley of the Marsh Ghosts, it would be easier for her to take a bearing with her map than in this nowhere – so, with clenched teeth she flew on and stared with watery eyes at the moon, which looked past her indifferently with its craggy face and bathed the landscape below her in an unreal silvery light.

There—finally, she recognised densely forested mountains in the distance, and she breathed a sigh of relief. These had to be the foothills of the Northwest Highlands, the first real confirmation that she hadn't been off course from the start. It's there somewhere, she thought, and her stomach did somersaults with agitation. It can't be much longer.

But that was deceptive. The very optimistically calculated half an hour's flight was long over by the time when she was still sitting on her broom with her teeth chattering, and the mountains had not become much bigger either.

By now, Parvati's ears were hurting so badly from the icy headwind that she had to slow down. I'll never get there, she thought, as tears streamed down her face. Fucking shit! I hate flying! Oh God, I hope I can even make it that long …

Parvati actually felt her strength dwindling, and in her fear, she began to pray, which she never did otherwise. Please, dear God, if you let me get through this—I will make my peace with Padma right away, I promise. I'll write to Anne and Bapa more often and I won't be so rude to Lavender or other people … yes, I'll try to help everyone get along a bit better, like Harry meant the other day—so Voldemort won't have it too easy …

She cast a desperate glance at the moon, which hung plump and yellow above her, but now looked different somehow. A corner was missing, as if someone had taken a bite of a biscuit—the eclipse had begun. And so has the meeting, Parvati thought dully.

At last, the forested foothills of the mountain range approached and Parvati was completely at the end of her forces. I have to take a break, otherwise I'll really crash! I'm probably too late anyway …

She came in to land, not a minute too soon, because now she got dizzy on top of the earache.

On a field path right at the edge of the forest, Parvati crash-landed so hard she almost lost her senses. For a moment she lay numb, listening to the blood buzzing in her pricking ears and breathing in and out violently. Then panic welled up in her. What if I have broken something now—

But after carefully moving and feeling every part of her body, she was relieved to find that she had only suffered a few harmless abrasions to her face and hands. Slowly she rose, knocked the earth from her cloak and hesitantly walked her way into the forest, dragging her broom behind her. She took her small map out of her pocket and studied it by the light of her wand. It can't be far now, she thought. I'd better walk, or, with my luck, I'll fall right into the middle of the Death Eater round!

The pain in her ears slowly subsided as she walked across the soft mossy forest floor. After a short while, she reached a somewhat wider forest path and followed it in the direction she thought was the right one. Now the valley should be coming soon, Parvati thought. But it's so quiet … have I perhaps already walked past it?

The information from the library wasn't the most accurate, and Parvati didn't have much experience with following the position of the moon or using her wand as a compass. She didn't even know how big the valley was, and Severus hadn't given Draco any information about where exactly Voldemort would be holding his meeting there.

She wandered around for quite a while in the dense forest, which really seemed unnaturally quiet to her. She did not hear any animal sounds, even the trees did not rustle in the wind. Does nature sense the approaching lunar eclipse?, Parvati asked herself. Or does it sense that something evil is coming?

The moon above her was hidden by the tall deciduous trees most of the time, but every time Parvati caught a glimpse of it, it had lost another piece of its face.

Parvati was trembling with fear. Hardly any light reached the forest floor and she did not dare to light herself with her wand. The characteristic cone of light would have betrayed her at many hundreds of yards.

I think something in me doesn't want to find the valley at all, she thought after a while. Actually, one can't really act that stupid. Should I perhaps turn back after all?

Once again, the branches above her thinned out a little, revealing an unobstructed view of the moon. It was now completely covered with the earth's shadow and glowed in a dim rust-red light that intensified towards the lower half.

The time has come, she thought, and goose bumps ran down her spine. Parvati suddenly wished with all her might that she would sit peacefully with Lavender in the observatory or whizz through the air sitting behind her.

The next moment, a shrill scream split the air.

What was that? Parvati stood stock-still in the middle of the forest path. Horror washed over her like a hot wave, and the hairs on the back of her neck stood up. She listened intently into the darkness. Maybe it's just an animal, she tried to reassure herself.

But then more screams followed. Shrill, desperate cries, as if someone was in agony.

"Oh God," Parvati whispered, nameless horror tightening her throat. Still she could not move a step from the spot. Are they really doing it? Are they really doing it?

All the blood seemed to drain out of her; her ears began to buzz loudly and she swayed slightly. Oh God—I have to get out of here! Before I faint …

"NOOOO …"

A bloodcurdling cry for help echoed through the otherwise silent forest, followed by more wild exclamations that could include anything—imprecations, pleading for mercy, begging for a last wish …

And shortly afterwards came the death scream. Parvati just knew.

Desperate, shaken by horror, she looked around her, each breath a sob. I have to get out of here! It must be close by! What will I do if someone finds me?!

Crying and completely headless, she began to run away, back into the dense forest, in the direction from which she had come.

Only after a few yards did she remember what the broom was for, which she was still clutching tightly. Panic-stricken, she clamped it between her legs and was about to push herself off when she heard a loud rustling and cracking noise to her right, as if someone was running through the undergrowth in a great hurry.

Then something broke through the bushes directly in front of her and Draco Malfoy crashed hard to the forest floor not a yard away from her.