Black Roses

Déjà Vu

There was no pausing this time. The moment we arrived, Europa rushed us all towards a large house in the distance. The other aurors had their wands out at arm's length, and I copied, not out of a desire for acceptance, but because my deepest survival instincts told me that danger was near.

As we reached the house, a terrifying sense of dread crept over me, an icy hand creeping along my spine. The house was normal as any, but shrouded in the hushed veil of death, the ghosts of unheard screams lingering.

The other aurors, despite their experience and prowess, were also nervous. No one had been here yet. No one had found the bodies. For all we knew, the killer could still be lurking inside.

For one brief moment, I forgot what we were supposed to be doing and paused, pondering. How did we know that the attacker had struck? What did the complex spell that had drained Europa and Gwendolyn of energy actually do?

But there was no time to waste thinking of such things. We marched forwards boldly, wands still out, as silently as we could manage. Every second counted - it was possible that a life was at stake here.

The door of the house could only be accessed through a neatly trimmed garden. Walking up the path gave me a sort of déjà vu - now where had I seen that kind of layout before?

The front door was painted black, although in the darkness it was hard to tell. Ever so gently, Europa gave it a push and it glided open effortlessly. It was unlocked.

My heart was going crazy in my chest, bounding around like a hare in distress. My head was screaming at me to run, move, do something, anything, just to get away. But something else kept me there, at the back of the group, ready for anything.

We crept forwards ever so slightly, carefully testing every board of the wooden floor for creaks. For some reason, I started counting the boards in my head, an instinctive habit I didn't know I had.

One, two three, I thought as I stepped in each one. Four - avoid five, it creaks - six, seven.

Somehow, inexplicable though it seemed, I knew exactly where the creaky floorboard would be, and, sure enough, when Titan stepped on it, it emitted a tiny squeak. It was as if I'd been there before... yet I had had no idea that the place even existed before now.

We made it across the front hall, quiet as mice. There were two doors to the left and one to the right. Although all three doors were closed, I knew exactly what was behind them. The first on the left led to the dining room, the second on the left to the kitchen, while the one on the right led to the living room.

And sure enough, when Europa pushed the one to the right open gingerly, checking for signs of life, it revealed four shadowed armchairs clustered around a television set. The layout of the room was strangely familiar, but I couldn't quite put my finger on why.

Europa didn't bother to check the other rooms. All the previous attacks had happened upstairs, in the bedrooms. Just to be sure, Anthony and Io checked the rooms on the left, but they, too, were dark and silent.

Straight ahead of us, there lay a disproportionately wide staircase. It was no surprise to me that, as we made our way up it, I knew exactly which stairs were slippery and which weren't. I made it up the staircase with ease.

At this point, I had migrated into the centre of the group, with Europa in the lead, Theodore and Io just behind her, Anthony beside me, and Titan at the back. We were all stood on the landing, hardly daring to breathe.

Because we could hear another noise.

Soft, whimpering sobs emerged from the door at the very end of the dark landing. I knew how many rooms there would be before I even opened my eyes: five. They were perfectly symmetrical, with two either side and the one at the end that had drawn all of our attention.

Somebody was in that room. Someone was crying.

My pulse racing and my hand clammy as it gripped my wand even harder, I resisted the urge to run and hide. I followed the older aurors as they sneaked towards the door, closing up into an ever tighter formation around me, protecting - I realised - the weakest of the group.

The second it took Europa was the longest of my life. Every fibre of my body was dreading what would happen next.

And rightly so.

Because what we found in the room was horrible.