𝙰𝙽𝙶𝙴𝙻 𝙾𝙵 𝙳𝙴𝙰𝚃𝙷 | 𝙵𝚛𝚎𝚍 𝚆𝚎𝚊𝚜𝚕𝚎𝚢

𝔠𝔥𝔞𝔭𝔱𝔢𝔯 𝔳𝔦

"Maria..."

Maria Black woke with a startled gasp at the sound of her name. She gripped her bedsheets as the voice sent chills down her spine.

"Maria..."

She quickly sat up in her bed and reached over to her nightstand to turn on the lamp. Glancing around, she noticed all of her roommates fast asleep in their beds. 

"Maria..."

The voice began to fade away as she threw off her bedsheets and slipped into her slippers, hurrying out of her dormitory. She stumbled over the last step but never faltered as she rushed into the corridor, following the voice calling out to her. 

"Maria..."

Maria stopped in her path as she neared a sharp turn in the corridor. She wasn't sure what it was, fear or an instinct, but Maria knew she shouldn't go any further. Something was extremely wrong, but she couldn't quite put her finger on it. There was something dangerous waiting for her around the corner, something that meant death. 

"Maria?"

The young girl jumped in fright as she covered up a scream. Maria couldn't remember the last time anyone had given her quite a fright as she turned around to meet the mischievous eyes of Fred Weasley.

"Fred," Maria let out a relieved sigh, something that didn't go unnoticed by the Weasley boy, as she glanced over her shoulder once more.

"Are you alright?" Fred asked her as she heard an odd sound nearby. 

"I'm fine," Maria brushed aside his concerns as she struggled to listen for the same sound again. Her head tilted as she heard what sounded like hissing, but it didn't make any sense.

"What are you doing out so late?" Fred questioned as Maria found herself distracted and confused at his concern for her.

"Maria..." the voice tried calling out again, but it was slowly growing fainter with every passing second.

"Nothing," Maria quickly tried to cover her tracks as she reluctantly turned away from the voice to deal with Fred. "I, uh-"

"You're not wearing your gloves," Fred didn't give her time to give an excuse as he glanced down at her hands. Maria followed his gaze to her hands as her face drastically paled. 

"Oh, I didn't realize," her explanation did nothing to ease either of the two Gryffindors as Maria wrapped her arms around her body to keep her hands from swinging dangerously by her side. Noticing her sudden discomfort and remembering their last encounter, Fred figured it was best to end the conversation there.

"Let me walk you back," he offered, quickly changing the topic.

"I'd like that," Maria replied with a small twitch of her lips.

Fred began to lead the frazzled Gryffindor back to their common room as he glanced over his shoulder, wondering what had her so frightened. There were a lot of questions he had for Maria Black, but none of them were anything that would be answered soon. 

Maria remained silent for the rest of their walk as Fred tried to make conversation. She would nod her head, but Fred could tell she wasn't really paying attention as she remained deep in thought. He let it be, however, as he didn't want to upset her any more than she already was. Something was going on, and he was determined to find out, one way or another.

Little did he know that in the distance, Maria could've sworn she could still hear the voice calling her back.