Darkest Desire - English

21

That night, Liz stood alone in the small bathroom she shared with her roommates and pressed a towel over her mouth so as not to make a sound.

She had pretended after Luna's examination that everything was fine. But nothing was fine.

*

Luna had confessed that she had overheard Liz and Mattheo talking until she had realized how late it was. She had decided, just as Liz had thought about it, to take the shortcut through the forbidden forest. It was only a few yards, you went just far enough in that you couldn't be seen at first glance from the edge of the forest. Many students did that and nothing had ever happened before.

"And then I heard this voice," Luna explained very calmly. She hadn't really been scared at any point. Not even when it had been explained to her what had happened to her. "It asked me if this was Hogwarts, but I didn't see a body to the voice anywhere. Well. That was really it. I said yes, and then something jumped out at me. I got startled, tripped, and probably hit my head when I fell."

Ironically, Madame Pomfrey confirmed this story. The bump on the back of Luna's head was simply from a root she had landed on.

"So we would never have heard of the Djinn if you hadn't been spooked by a rabbit?" mused Ginny aloud, having no idea how much that thought frightened Liz.

"Or the Djinn would never have known this was Hogwarts," Luna added as she put potatoes on her plate.

Listlessly, Liz poked at her food. She didn't even feel the need to check if Mattheo was sitting at the Syltherin table. "Do you think Dumbledore and the teachers can stop an old Djinn if he tries to get into the school?" At first she didn't even notice her friends getting quiet. It was only after a while that she lifted her eyes and realized she hadn't gotten an answer.

"We asked different teachers," Ginny finally confessed. "After we heard what had happened. But none of them could give us a real answer." They exchanged uncertain glances. "I think," the redhead was finally the only one to gather the courage to answer, "if the Djinn really has its target here at Hogwarts, the school will have to close."

*

After dinner, Ginny quickly ran to Gryffindor Tower and borrowed all the books on magical creatures she could find from Hermione. The library was in chaos because everyone wanted to know about Djinns. Since Djinns were extremely rare and extremely strong, little was learned about them in school, and only in the last year.

The three of them squatted over Hermione's books in an abandoned classroom, picking out every bit of information they could find.

"Djinn is actually a generic term for a whole range of magical creatures. But the most important characteristic in all of them is their intelligence and strength."

"Younger Djinn are often not as hardened in their morals and are therefore more likely to be dissuaded from their plans than older ones. The older, the more stubborn."

"The fairy tale about the Djinn in the bottle grew out of an old story in the wizarding world. A powerful witch wanted to save her son's life, and because the Djinn refused to take back the mark, the woman sacrificed her life to lock the Djinn in a clay jar."

The three fell silent, though the spark of hope was immediately extinguished as Luna continued to read. "The Djinn promised a wish to the one who freed him. But no sooner was he free and the wish granted than he killed the son whose life his mother had so fiercely protected - and all his descendants, who, according to the Djinn, should never have existed."

"Wow," Ginny punched out the air. "That's what I call holding a grudge."

It was already pitch dark outside the window when the girls finally slammed the books shut.

"I'm really glad the Djinn isn't mad at me," Luna said as she finally settled into her bed and fell asleep almost immediately.

*

It was those exact words that Liz heard now as she stared at her reflection. Yes. How lucky Luna could be.

But Liz remembered the empty eyes and the pale skull. Bare white bone, almost unnaturally white and long like a horse's skull. The darkness that surrounded everything yet took shape. Shadows sprouted from his skull, like the antlers of a deer. Like wet spider webs, threads of pure blackness had slithered down again and again as the creature had pointed its long arm at her.

At that moment itself, Liz had not understood what had happened. She had seen it all only in the tiny reflection in Mattheo's eye. But the more time passed, the clearer the scene became. The Djinn had not reached out his hand to Mattheo. He had demanded her. Had he shown Mattheo what he wanted?

Liz stared into her own eyes in the mirror. It was the same steel gray that Draco had. Only she wasn't a blonde, she was a brunette. She was as pale as Draco, but her even skin was distorted and discolored by hundreds of scars. Not all of them had been Bellatrix, not a few Liz had caused herself. But this one was new.

Lines stretched like black lightning around her lowest rib on her left side. Exactly where the Djinn's fingers had pointed. He had found his target.