Peacekeepers

Chapter 8: Hunted

Ominis found himself floating in an endless void, as if he was using legilimency on someone. It was a strange feeling, because last he remembered he'd been laying in the street with-

Oh.

He looked down at the strings below him, seeing his own memories within his reach. He started to reach out before something pulled him back, looking back to see the glowing blue figure of Diane holding his shoulder. She shook her head and put a finger to her mouth to tell him to be quiet, before pointing to something in the distance.

A cloaked figure stalked amongst the strands, as if searching for them. He knew exactly who that was, because he remembered seeing him in the department of mysteries. Tattered cloak, bony hands, and a long serrated scythe in hand.

He turned around to hold Diane protectively, but his arms went through her. How had she held him but he couldn't hold her?

She couldn't speak either, if the way she was motioning was anything to go by. She shook her head, pointed to herself, pointed down to represent where they were and shook her head again.

She wasn't here? Is that what she was saying? But she obviously was! How was she not here, yet he could see her?

She looked over to the cloaked figure cautiously before motioning for him to follow him further down into his mind.

He was confused why she would want to go there, but nodded and followed after her. They swam through bundles of memories, and the further back they traveled, the more uneasy he grew. Where was she taking him? How was she even here?

She stopped finally, and pointed to a strand.

The memory was of the night in the cave by the beach, when she had fled and disappeared. He remembered that day well, fighting against the waves of magic as they rolled through him, wind beating at him relentlessly. He'd finally made it to her, and she'd been in some sort of strange trance. When he'd touched her she'd started leaking that strange blue liquid, and he remembered how it had tingled and made his skin warm where it had touched.

She pointed to the strand, and then to herself.

He looked between them in confusion before he realized something. This didn't look like Diane as she looked now. This was Diane as she looked 6th year! This was a memory of her, somehow able to be within his mind free of the strand. She was blue instead of the red of his wand vision, but this was definitely her!

He reached forward as he looked at how young she was, hardly able to believe this was possible. They had grown so much since that time.

She looked up in alarm and grabbed his wrist, tugging him further down. He glanced over his shoulder and saw the cloaked figure moving deeper as well, as if sensing where they were.

He followed after her quickly, and they hid in a thick tangle of memories, flashes of his life at Gaunt manor playing around him as Death glided by slowly. She turned to hold him protectively, looking back at the hooded figure moving away into the distance.

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Sebastian lay in the bed between them, his eyes haunted as he looked up at the ceiling. Neither of them had stirred all the rest of the day, despite him trying several times to wake them. It was late the next night now, and Garreth and Anne had gone to bed. William had visited, distraught at the sight of his sister asleep like this. He had gone home with a dark expression and a promise to return the next day.

He was such a failure... his duty was to protect them, and he had failed miserably. Why had he let them go? Why hadn't he gone with them? If he had, maybe he could have shielded them...