Lovebirds [Hedric]

Haunted

The door slammed shut and locked itself as soon as Harry stepped inside of the manor, trapping him in the eerie house. He turned around and pushed, but it wouldn't move. Harry trembled slightly as he went deeper inside the dark foyer, he was in. He knew that anyone who has watched at least one horror movie would not do what he was doing right now. He should know for every horror movie he and his friends had watched on movie nights. But Harry never believed in ghosts. He hopes they weren't real. He hopes, not knows. After all, there is a slight chance that they could be but there's no point in terrifying himself even more.

Harry raised his head to gaze at the red, silk carpet draped majestically on the marble staircase, along with the large, potted flowers standing on each end. His eyes managed to get a glimpse of it after adjusting to the lack of light. Although, it would have looked more pleasing if the lights of the grand chandelier above him were on. Harry groaned inwardly since the darkness worsened his fears. Which was such an irony, since Harry was a courageous and daring individual. Nonetheless, he couldn't deny how gorgeous the foyer was through the dim lights.

I should've brought a flashlight, he thought. He shuffled into his pocket and pulled out his phone — which, thankfully, was fully charged — and shone the bright light around. As expected, the porch was indeed magnificent. Harry made the light a bit dimmer. He didn't like how it released blinding light blending with the never-ending shade.

He stepped forward one foot at a time until he reached the top of the stairs. Then, Harry started touring through the corridors. They were wide and there were random tables with flowers on most of them.

As Harry's hand moved from left to right, he saw paintings on the walls. Most of their style looked vastly similar to medieval and renaissance art, which enhanced the uneasiness he felt inside of the manor. Harry kept walking around a second-floor corridor until he came to a halt. A door stood in front of him. Harry held his breath for a bit, fearing what would pop out if he opened the door. But he still did open the door, to find an office. It was neat and clean, except for the dust covering it. However, the room was organized. Harry sat down on a chair behind the desk to rest.

Why did he even agree to this? It was all a harmless game of truth or dare but now, he's stuck in a mansion that was said to be haunted. What if the rumor of a ghost living in it was real? Harry would be its next victim then. But there weren't any deaths when people came in. They all said that they did see a ghost, but it never did attack them. Perhaps it was a nice ghost? No, that would be ridiculous since they also said that the ghost would charge at them a lot.

Harry let out a tired sigh before he stood up and went outside of the office. He spun his heel around and marched backwards, only to find out he was completely lost. Worst of all, in a 10,000 square feet estate, a large manor that has six floors including the attic, a whole backyard as large as a ranch, and with no light or electricity. The Diggory manor was certainly gigantic. It made Harry feel so small like an ant.

Harry opened his phone and dialed Hermione's number. A digital voice answered, "The receiver cannot be reached." Harry groaned and nearly threw the phone towards a wall when a creak stopped him. He turned around. Fast footsteps came from the south, sending shivers down his spine. Harry looked back at the phone. The mansion was well known, so there has to be a map of it online. Thank goodness, Google worked for some reason. He opened a picture of a map.

Where's the exit? According to the phone, there's an open backdoor somewhere at the end of the house. But it's so far away, and there were tons of hallways arranged in a labyrinth-like style. The pictures all looked serious and it almost seemed as if their eyes were following his every movement. The wooden floorboard would not stop creaking.

He had been roaming about in it for an hour.

It didn't help that the sun was setting outside the windows. There was no way out. He even tried breaking a large, yellow, tinted-glass window by throwing a vase but the vase just shattered instead. Then he threw a fancy-looking stone, which bounced off rather than going through.

Ice-cold breeze blew onto his already shivering body as Harry walked upstairs. As he did, his phone's light got brighter as a small ding came. Harry, startled, nearly dropped the gadget while he shoved his hands into his pockets and scanned the screen. It was Hermione and Ron. Stunned and bewildered, Harry opened the message.

Hermione: Where are you? The sun is setting and you still won't come out.

Ron: Yeah, mate. All you had to do is walk in and get out, but why are you still in there?

With a hand over his eyes, Harry groaned and inwardly cussed at his friends' obliviousness. He quickly typed back and replied to his friends, both who seemed awfully worried for him.

Harry: Can't! The front is locked!

Hermione: What? How?

Ron: I think you're hallucinating, mate.

Harry groaned again.

Harry: Why won't you guys believe me?

Hermione: We do, Harry. It's just ... how will you get out?

Crash! The phone screen shattered into pieces as soon as it collided with the floor. A choked gasp came out when long, slick fingers grasped his neck. Harry tried to pull the cold fingers, but they wouldn't move. In fact, they became even tighter and made it harder to get away. An arm wrapped around his waist and he could feel a cold body pressing against him. A small moan of despair came from behind.

Tears overflowed from Harry's eyes. He whimpered softly and tried to kick whoever was behind him. His arms started to cramp and his body felt limp.

Then everything went black.

To be continued...

***

No, I'm not dead. I just had a small case of writer's block, but I'm slowly getting out of that hole, don't worry. Also, I just realized that most of my shorts are AUs, so I'm gonna try and focus more on the canon universe, lol.

— Author