THE SHADOW PATH ⎯ james potter

[035]

chapter thirty-five:

eyes full of stars

The train back to Hogwarts was filled with the usual hustle and bustle as students returned from the Christmas break. Ellie, sitting in a compartment with Remus, Sirius, James, and Peter, was feeling the gentle sway of the train as it sped along the tracks. 

The festive mood from the holidays lingered in the air, but the long journey had left her feeling drowsy. Leaning her head against the window, she let her eyes drift shut, the low murmur of conversation fading into the background as sleep claimed her.

As Ellie dozed off, the darkness behind her eyelids was suddenly replaced by a scene that didn't belong to her. She found herself standing in a dimly lit room, the air thick with tension. The walls were lined with dusty shelves filled with old, decaying books, and the only light came from a flickering candle on a table in the center of the room.

She wasn't alone. There was a figure seated at the table, hunched over something she couldn't quite see. The man's face was hidden in the shadows, but there was something disturbingly familiar about him. Ellie wanted to move closer, to get a better look, but her feet felt rooted to the spot, as if she were an invisible observer trapped in this fragment of someone else's memory.

The man muttered something under his breath, a low, unintelligible string of words. Then, with a sudden burst of movement, he stood up, revealing a thin, weathered face. Ellie's breath caught in her throat—it was Mulciber. But he looked different, more sinister, his eyes glinting with a dark determination that sent a chill down her spine.

Mulciber reached for something on the table. It was a small, ancient-looking book, its cover worn and cracked. He opened it with a reverence that bordered on obsession, his fingers trembling as he flipped through the pages. When he finally found what he was looking for, he leaned in closer, his lips moving as he read aloud in a language Ellie didn't understand.

Suddenly, the room seemed to darken, the shadows creeping closer as the air grew colder. A feeling of dread settled over Ellie, and she wanted to wake up, to escape this memory that wasn't hers. But before she could pull herself out of the dream, Mulciber's head snapped up, his eyes locking onto hers as if he could see her. There was a look of pure malice in his gaze, and his voice, when he spoke, was filled with an unsettling calm.

"You shouldn't be here," he said, his words echoing in the eerie silence.

Ellie gasped, her heart racing as the scene dissolved around her, the memory shattering like glass. She jolted awake in the compartment, her breath coming in short, panicked bursts. The familiar faces of her friends surrounded her, their expressions filled with concern.

"Ellie, are you okay?" Remus asked, leaning forward with worry etched on his face.

Ellie blinked, trying to shake off the lingering feeling of unease. The dream had felt so real, so vivid. But it was just a dream... wasn't it?

"I... I'm fine," she said, though her voice was shaky. "Just a bad dream."

James frowned, exchanging a glance with Sirius. "That must have been some dream," he remarked, his tone slightly more serious than usual.

Ellie nodded, though her mind was racing. She didn't want to tell them what she had seen, not yet. It didn't make any sense, and she wasn't sure if it was something to worry about. But as the train continued its journey toward Hogwarts, Ellie couldn't shake the feeling that there was something deeply wrong about what she had witnessed in her dream. Something that wasn't just a figment of her imagination.