Miss Quinn

97 ~ The Unforgivable Curses

Emma could feel the pain. It pierced her soul like a dagger. She could feel it in every limb, in every nerve. A horrible, excruciating pain. Before her, Emma could make out the outline of a figure clad in black, its wand drawn. As Emma writhed in agony, the figure cackled.

"Has she answered the question, Bella?" A second voice said from the dark behind the figure. The second figure stepped into view as the spell broke off. Emma clutched herself, curling into a ball. She could feel the cold, stone floor beneath her, and smell the dank, cave-like room around her. At that moment, Emma wanted nothing more than to sink into the floor and die.

"No, my Lord. She is being difficult," said the first figure, 'Bella'.

Emma surveyed herself. Cuts and bruises ran down her arms, and she could feel something sticky and wet on her neck. She knew the second figure by voice: Voldemort. And she assumed 'Bella' was Bellatrix Lestrange. The question was: where was she?

"I'll give her one week. If she doesn't concede by then, kill her."

Bellatrix cackled again, and aimed her wand back at Emma.

"Crucio!" She shouted, and a flash of red light hit Emma square in the chest. The pain returned, even worse than before. A scream escaped her lips.

Emma awoke with a jolt. She was in her dormitory. Her dormmates were all sleeping soundly. Everything was fine. It had just been a dream. A terrible dream.

Emma wiped the sweat from her brow and took a deep breath. It was early. The sun had not yet risen, and the sky was still black save the twinkling stars.

A rustling to Emma's right told her that Venus had been awoken. Venus sat up and looked at Emma.

"Bad dream?"

"Yeah, you?"

"Yeah."

Emma swung her legs out from under the covers. The stone floor was cold underneath her feet, reminding her of the dream.

"Where're you going?" Venus asked.

"For a run. Want to come?"

"You go ahead. I'm going to try to go back to sleep."

"Have fun with that," Emma said, pulling on a pair of socks.

Venus giggled quietly and laid back down, pulling the covers up to her neck.

Emma finished getting dressed, and ran a brush through her tangled hair. She tied the locks back in a ponytail and slipped her feet into her Converse.

With one last glance around, to make sure she wasn't forgetting anything, Emma slipped out the door and tiptoed quietly down the stairs to the Common Room. It was empty, and the fire was blazing softly. She walked to the portrait hole and pushed it open, much to the displeasure of the Fat Lady, who had been woken up by Emma's action. With a quick apology, Emma hurried down seven flights of stairs to the entrance hall.

The night air was cool against Emma's skin. She stretched her arms and legs, and stared out into the night. She couldn't see much, but there was a small amount of light from the moon above, and Emma knew the sun would rise soon. She started off at a light jog, and sped up as she neared the Black Lake. Once she got to the flat bank, she ran at a dead sprint as far as she could. As the ground sloped upwards, Emma's pace slowed until she was jogging.

The rising sun cast shadows across the earth, and Emma paused to watch the sunrise. She was rarely up this early, and wanted to enjoy it. The sky turned from violet to pink to orange to yellow, and finally to blue. The process took about ten minutes, but it seemed far too short to Emma. Starting once again at a jog, she headed back up to the castle. By the time she reached the entrance hall to catch her breath, students were coming down to breakfast. Emma waved to Charlotte, who had just descended the stairs with her Ravenclaw friends.