Ortum Infernum [d.m]

Chapter Twelve

     The forest was eerily silent, except for her racing heart and the incessant whispers that drifted through the wind. Odette felt herself sway from Draco's arms, in search of the bodiless voices that kept tugging at her.

"What's wrong?" He eased them down onto the forest bed, searching her face with worry.

Odette couldn't respond, feeling herself sink into an abyss. Her eyes wandered, before being drawn to a decaying, hollow tree. She felt herself move instinctively. Wordlessly, Draco followed her, his hands steady on her elbows to support her weight.

The whispers grew louder the closer she got. Her hand reached up towards the dead barks of the trunk and then slowly sank down to her knees. Some of the roots were exposed, the smell of decaying wood was pungent.

As she placed a hand onto the root, she felt a thorn prick her finger and suddenly a hot searing pain shot up her arm. She wasn't sure if she had been the one to scream or if it was the tree.

Odette felt something push against her magic, piercing through the veil. The dark roots forced through her mind, wrapping like tendrils over every part it could reach until she felt it in her spine and her veins as she gave into the abyss.

A strange dark room came into her mind, accompanied by the sound of wolves howling in the shadows. The aftermath of a battlefield flashed before her, a horrific sight of bodies littered among the earth that was stained with blood. There was so much blood, magical blood, it seeped into the soil and poisoned the trees.

A painful coldness wrapped around her, sliced her skin open. Her screams were drowned in the dark murky waters as a war rages on before her eyes. Then there were flames circling in the sky; consuming everything in the inferno, screams of terror filled the burning night as a silhouette emerged.

Stone walls, a familiar corridor. There were screams coming from a dark and empty hall. They went on and on, the screams wouldn't end. Not even when she begged for them to stop. Not even when she—.

"Odette! Look at me." Draco's voice dragged her out of the darkness. "It's okay—you're safe. I'm here. I'm right here, sweetheart. Look at me."

He had her face cupped between his warm hands. A thumb caressed her temple, brushing away the tears that were streaming down the side of her face. He kept repeating the same words, trying to comfort her, but his hands were shaking and his voice cracked.

Her vision slowly swam into focus. Draco's face was the first thing she saw and he looked pained. Odette noticed with a slow realisation that she was half laying in his lap. Her head pounded and her throat felt sore. It made sense now, she had been hearing her own screams.

Relief flooded Draco's face when he noticed the consciousness trickle back into her eyes. "Odette, can you hear me? Are you alright?"

She tried to nod but it brought a fresh wave of pain to wash over her. Draco gritted his teeth at the whimpers that left her parted lips.

"I'm sorry—there was nothing I could do," he said with a crack in his voice. "I tried everything."

He swallowed thickly, still looking shaken. He tried to compose himself before he grabbed his wand that was on the ground beside him and gathered her in his arms.

"I'm taking you to Madam Pomfrey."

"No," her voice was barely above a whisper. "Professor... Dumbledore..."

There was something wrong with her. The visions she saw, they had felt so real. Something in her gut told her that she needed to let Dumbledore know. Draco saw the look that she tried to convey in her eyes and nodded with a tensed jaw.