Loyal | Tom Riddle

15: Odd Encounters

"I've been waiting for you," a deep, disembodied voice said.

The man's eyes darted around the room frantically, searching for the speaker, but to no avail. The flames licked higher, crackling with the voice once more.

"You know what you must do, Alaric."

He gritted his teeth, hardly recognisable behind his scraggly beard and unkempt dark hair. His eyes were sunken in, their irises turned a pale yellow that was rimmed with bloodshot red, and his nose looked more crooked than before -- as if it had been broken many times.

"I will not!" he cried defiantly.

The voice chuckled, a low, rumbling sound that easily could have been mistaken for thunder. "You are brave, Mr. Travers, but I am wiser and stronger."

"You cannot force me to do your dirty work anymore!" Alaric shouted. "I refuse!"

"Perhaps you can be... persuaded..."

The inflection of the voice was familiar, so familiar...

"Your wife is alone and miserable; your children are wary of each other, would even resort to duel one another rather than trust. Your family is broken without you," the voice said scathingly.

Softly, it spoke again. "I can make it all go away, Alaric. All you must do is ask."

His face slackened suddenly as spurts of red began to gush out of his body. He was spreadeagled on his back, hovering mere inches above the floorboards, the blood seeping out of him slowly and curling into a circle that enclosed him entirely. An odd choking noise issued from his throat, just as his eyes rolled back in his head and everything faded to black, with the bone-chilling voice whispering still.

"I can make it all go away. All you have to do is ask... ask... ask... ask..."

Arabella woke with a start, panting heavily. A sigh of relief sounded above her, and when she glanced up, she found all of her teammates staring down at her in concern.

"Glad we didn't have to ask Madam Goodfellow to come and get you," Blackladder said with a grin that was missing a few teeth from one too many Bludger hits.

"Me mum always used to nod off during breakfast, too," Callan McGregor commented with a half-smile. "Maybe it's a women's thing."

"I certainly do not 'nod off,'" said Evelyn Prosecco indignantly, turning her hooked nose in the air.

Henry Cahill drew a deep breath, urging himself to remain calm as the bickering resumed behind him. Kneeling down to be level with Arabella, he placed his hand on her shoulder, staring her straight in the eye.

"Feeling all right?" he inquired.

She nodded. "Yeah, I just... didn't get enough sleep -- Transfiguration homework --Dumbledore. You know."

The captain cracked a smile at her, rising to his towering height above her. "If you say so. Just make sure to get enough sleep tonight -- I've set our curfew for half past eight."

Arabella yawned, hoping to make herself look more convincing. "I will, don't you worry about it."

As soon as her teammates resumed their usual arguing and ignorance, she slipped away towards the Slytherin table.