Term 4, Week 8, Hogwarts, 1997: 'The Year of Horror'
Silence, disturbing silence. My eyes searched the walls for the door that led to the Room of Requirement. I had heard rumours of the students who resided within there, an entire dorm filled with students, safe from the Death Eaters.
I finally found the portrait of Merlin, rumoured to be a portal in to Elysia and Neville's legendary garden. Yes, the Room had to be opposite here. I turned my back to the portrait and stared at the wall, thinking of my only requirement; safety.
Soon the bricks began to ripple and shift, changing from stone to wood as the doorway appeared. I smiled in relief, so happy that I had finally acted on the rumours and found this place. I glance furtively down at my arm, held in a sling that Elysia herself had given me after the Carrows shattered the bone to demonstrate their various torture techniques.
Suddenly, the wooden door halted in its progress, reverting back to its brick beginnings. I rushed forward, slamming my hands against it, struggling to stop it. My efforts were useless; soon the door has disappeared as quickly as it had come.
"Got one!" screeched the high-pitched voice of Pansy Parkinson, Death Eater in training.
I turned to face the portrait, realising that it wasn't moving at all, like it should be. It's a trap, I realised with a forlorn rush of emotion. Glancing wide-eyed at the dark-haired girl, I turned and began to run as fast as I could, only to see another Slytherin in front of me, the famous Willow.
"The Carrow's have a message for you to deliver, rat!" she screeched, grasping my long hair and dragging me from the small glimmer of hope that the trap had provided.
I sat in Dumbledore's former office, a place that I had been in just once, last year in my first year of Hogwarts, when McGonagall asked me to collect a book from there. I had seen Dumbledore with my own eyes, and murmured a little hello, nothing neither more nor less.
Now the office was nothing like it was, bookcases filled with books promoting dark magic and wicked potions. Somehow, a dark cloud seemed to hang over it, the formerly crimson carpet seeming to be a blackened red.
"Bring her to me." screeched a high-pitched voice, unlike either of the Carrow's voice, but sickeningly familiar.
"Bow to your Master." Willow hissed, pushing me in front of the Dark Lord himself.
I froze, completely paralysed with fear as I kneeled in front of his deathly white skin, his crimson eyes, his elongated limbs and fingers. This man... This beast... A mingling sense of anger and fear pulsed through my veins like hot wax.
"You were searching for Elysia and the Longbottom boy, correct?" he screeched, his eyes boring through my soul.
I nodded, unable to speak.
"I have a message that you can deliver to your peers; every wound she mends, the Dark Lord will multiply tenfold."
He paused, his eyes searching mine for some sort of understanding, prompting me to nod. His promise was a true one, and I didn't doubt that he would stand by his word. I remained silent, waiting for him to continue.
"Repeat this, precisely, the Elysia herself:
Day will changes its colour,
from bright evening to black night,
two must live without the others,
only they will survive the fight.
Tell her that if she ever wants to know the meaning of her future, she must come to her true father."
I was utterly confused, did he mean that he would take Elysia to her father to find out what that little rhyme meant? But, Dumbledore was dead... Was Voldemort going to bring him back in some sick way to prove a point?
"H-How will I see her?" I stammered, averting my eyes from his.
He chuckled, a high, piercing sound that provoked his followers to join in on the laughter. I stared around in confusion, what was I missing? Pushing myself upwards, I stood up straight before the seated Voldemort, my height so tiny that I was still not taller than him.
"She's a healer, girl! So, I'll give her something to heal." he laughed, his face so joyous that it was hard to accept what he meant.
He drew his wand from his robes and flicked it at me, a frightening crack ensuing. I was still standing, though one of my legs was twisted violently to the side. I wanted to collapse, at lease easing some of the immense pain, but my feet were frozen tot he ground.
"Willow, Pansy, assist me." he said morosely, tired of snapping my bones.
The two girls actually looked shocked, never before having to go this far. Had they been so naïve as to believe that Voldemort would not crush any innocence left within them? Tears rolled down my cheeks freely, but I couldn't move as he tortured me, breaking more and more, causing blood to flow liberally.
"C-crucio..." Willow murmured, lacking conviction in her eyes.
I screamed in pain as Pansy repeated the curse, doubling my agony. It went on for nearly an hour, my body frozen in an upright position as they wrecked me. My screams died down in the end as I realised that they would come to no good.
"Leave her near the Ravenclaw tower." he said casually, as if he had not been torturing a twelve year-old for the past hour.
By this time, both Pansy and Willow were crying silently, their eyes as tortured as my brittle body. I drew some sick pleasure from seeing them distraught, as they realised that this was the life that they were entering.
They left me in a pool of my own blood outside of Ravenclaw tower, incoherent thoughts rattling through my mind.
We called Elysia the Mother of Hogwarts, because she was the closest thing we had right now. The Death Eaters prevented visits home, even during the holidays apparently, and contact to anyone outside of the school, meaning that we had no parents during the school year.
Elysia was a warm light for us, mere moths floating in the cold. Wounds were mended, and Neville had formed a new dorm in the Room of Requirement, a Utopia of sorts. No one had heard anything of Harry Potter, the Death Eaters constantly telling us he was dead; but it couldn't be true.
"We found one! We found one!" squeaked a little voice in the distance, provoking a clatter of footsteps.
The words made me shudder, imitating the same declaration Pansy had made hours before.
Despite the bags under her eyes, she was still lovely as she crouched beside me, chanting all sorts of spells that I couldn't feel; I was too far-gone.
"Voldemort gave me a message for you..." I said simply, realising that perhaps Elysia would get to see her father, like I never would.
"What did he say?" she said calmly, almost as if she didn't believe me.
"That if you want to know the meaning of your future... that little prophecy thing... you need to talk to your true father."
She paused, her blue eyes staring in to mine frantically. Holding my cold hand tightly, she gave me a taut smile before continuing.
"My father is dead."
"Day will changes its colour,
from bright evening to black night,
two must live without the others,
only they will survive the fight." I said simply, hoping the message was conveyed, I was dying for this bloody message, anyway.
Her expression softened as she used her thumb to wipe the blood from the corner of my mouth. She believed me, I knew it now, but it had only made her sad. Tears escaped the corners of her eyes, as she made soothing 'shhh' noises.
"I'm sorry that that message caused this,” she whispered, glancing at my extensive wounds.
"It's alright, I suppose I owe my life to you anyway, you’re the only reason I made it through this year.” I croaked, my body growing even number; if that was possible.
"Don't be silly..."
"I'll tell Dumbledore you said 'Hello'." I choked finally, feeling my throat contract beyond the possibility of breathing.
More of that lovely 'shh-ing' as she stroked my arm, just like my Mum used to do when I went to bed. Maybe I'd get to be on one of those memorial plaques, another person dead in Voldemort's war, though I didn't really fight.
"What's her name?" Elysia inquired as my eyes closed and breath faltered.
A solemn voice replied, "Idony Jones, Gryffindor house."
"Goodnight, Idony."
~
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