Written for:
The Houses Competition, round 5
Gryffindor, Transfiguration , standard
Prompts: (colour) blue; (animal) rabbit
Warnings/Trigger warnings: suggested child murder
Words: 1,516
Thank you to my wonderful beta readers, Charliemanx/Candystar (ao3) and Ophelia_Yvette!
The Field
Lucy sat in the window seat of her bedroom, staring outside. She loved the dormer window in her bedroom, jutting out of the roof at the very top of the house, which sat on the very top of the hill at the end of the village. From here, she could see everything.
There was the oak tree that was great for climbing, and beside that, the post office where mum went to post letters to her sisters. The village green where Scamp, the border collie, often sat waiting for anyone to throw a stick. The school was behind that, and beyond the school, a field.
Not a farmed field, no crops ever grew and no cows ever grazed. But it wasn't overgrown, either. Just a grass field that never changed.
But Lucy remembered something, she was sure of it. All the grown ups told her it was her imaginary friend with her imaginary parents that lived in an imaginary house there with an imaginary pale blue front door.
But Lucy wasn't so sure it was imaginary.
Lucy watched that field a lot. She was sure something wasn't right about it because it wasn't like all the other fields. She never saw anyone go into it, and that alone was unusual. But she never saw anything else there, either. Not even the birds seemed to land in it.
Today, Lucy was determined to go into the field and investigate it for herself.
She sighed and stood, smoothing down her jeans in an imitation of her mum, and headed downstairs.
Her mother was sitting on the sofa with the Sunday paper, drinking tea over the crossword. She could hear her dad in the kitchen, probably doing the washing up from lunch.
"Mum, I'm going to play out," she said with a smile.
"Okay, love, just remember not to leave the village and be back by 4 o'clock," her mum replied, and Lucy was halfway out the front door before she'd even finished speaking.
"Okay, bye, mum!" Lucy shouted.
"See you later, kid!" Lucy heard her dad shout from the kitchen as she shut the front door.
She grinned from ear to ear as she turned round to face the world and took off at a sprint down the hill. There was a road in front of the village green, so reluctantly, Lucy came to a stop to look both ways before she crossed. As soon as she was over the road, she ran again, at a full sprint across the village green towards the school.
Last Saturday, she'd tried to visit the field, but before she got there, she remembered her mum had asked her to go to the shop for some milk and butter. A few weeks ago, she'd been on her way to the field when she'd remembered she'd promised to call on her friend Gillian.
Nothing would get in her way today.
She ran round the school with determination and there it was - the fence line at the end of the road.
As she got nearer and nearer, though, she did begin to wonder if it was worth it at all. It was just a field, after all. A boring field. Maybe she shouldn't bother, she thought. Her running slowed to a jog and then a walk as she looked out at the field.
She stopped and glanced around, and was very surprised to see a rabbit in the front garden of the last house on the row. Lucy watched it, enthralled as it hopped through the grass.
A sound from inside the house spooked it suddenly, and it ran across the road, zigzagging as it went. Just as it reached the fence line, it gave an almighty hop into the field—and disappeared.
Lucy gasped.
Where did it go?
It must have gone somewhere, but she couldn't see it anywhere, not along the fence, not in the field beyond.
Right, that settled it.
Lucy had to get into that field.
Maybe running was the key, she thought. If she went at it like the rabbit did, maybe she'd get in too, to wherever the rabbit went.
She set off faster than she'd ran all day towards the field. As soon as she did, she no longer seemed to want to. An overwhelming urge to stop washed over her, but she didn't think. She just ran.
As she approached the fence, she put her hands out in front of her ready to push herself up and over it. She was about to jump, when suddenly there wasn't a fence there at all.
Lucy stumbled as she took in the view in front of her.
Instead of a field, she found herself in a garden. Wildflowers grew all around her. To the right of her, a garden path leading up to a large red brick house. Large bay windows adorned the front, and the front door was a gorgeous shade of pale blue.
The imaginary house!
But how could it be here?
Lucy didn't understand.
The house couldn't be not here and here at the same time. But it wasn't her imagination standing in front of her right now. None of this made any sense at all to Lucy.
But maybe her friend still lived here?
The house looked the same, after all. Just as Lucy remembered. Or imagined. Even the garden was the same.
And there, on the grass the other side of the path, was the rabbit Lucy had followed in. The rabbit was real, and Lucy was real, so the house must be real, too.
She hesitantly began to move towards the front door, remembering her friend Theo who she used to play catch with and his mum who used to bake gorgeous little pumpkin pies.
Lucy stopped in front of the peeling pale blue paint and brought her hand up to knock.
She didn't wait long, but the wait was agonising.
A woman Lucy didn't recognize answered the door. She had dark curly hair, pale white skin and a look of pure disgust.
"A Muggle," the woman spat, and Lucy didn't know what that meant but it didn't sound good.
"A what?" a male voice shouted from inside the house.
"A Muggle!" the woman shouted.
"I'm sorry, my friend used to live here, I got the wrong house," Lucy stammered, backing away.
"Where are you going?" the woman shouted. "Stay awhile."
The woman's smile was sticky sweet, her hand outstretched in a threatening welcome.
"I'm sorry, I need to go home," Lucy said.
The woman pulled a small stick out of her pocket and pointed it at Lucy. Lucy froze. What was that? What could it do?
"Stay," the woman said in a voice that left no room for argument.
The man came to the door to stand beside the woman, both of them staring at Lucy like she was the rabbit who'd been startled.
Both of them wore clothes Lucy had never seen before: long robes adorned with embroidery in bright colours.
"How did you get here?" the man asked.
"I… ran. I followed…. the rabbit."
The woman let out a shriek of laughter.
"She followed a rabbit, Rod!" the woman said. "She said her friend used to live here."
"Oh. Oh, Bella, should we tell her?" the man asked with a grin. "Little girl, your friend and his parents are long gone now. You're in our world, now."
"If you let me go, I promise I won't say anything about the field. I promise I'll never come back."
"Oh, little girl, that's not a risk we can take with you Muggles. Untrustworthy," she said, emphasising every syllable of the word.
The woman lifted her wooden stick even higher, aiming it right at Lucy.
"Run," she said.
Lucy needed no more prompting, turning around and setting off as fast as she could.
Lucy heard the woman mutter a word that sounded like oblivion as she ran, and something seemed to hit her. Her whole world erupted in blinding white light. When it cleared, Lucy was standing, out of breath, in the middle of the road, and she couldn't remember why she was running.
Mrs Makinson was standing on the pavement, looking very concerned.
"Lucy, oh, thank God! Are you okay, child?"
Mrs Makinson used to be a teacher at Lucy's school, but she'd retired now. She used to tell the most fantastical stories.
"I think so, Miss. I don't know," Lucy said, feeling terrified and very confused.
"Did you go looking for Theophilus?" Mrs Makinson asked.
"I think so."
"He… moved away. But he wasn't here very long. Most of the adults here have forgotten him. But his house isn't there anymore. It's just a field. You mustn't look for him anymore, do you understand?"
Lucy frowned. She was sure that wasn't quite right, but she didn't remember what was true anymore.
"Okay," Lucy said. "I understand."
She didn't, but she did understand that whatever was there was scary and she didn't want to go back anymore.
"Can I go home now?" Lucy asked.
"Of course, child. Be careful," Mrs Makinson said.