Spectre: The Dark Riddles #1

16: Dugbog*

[Chapter warning: slight non-con, violence, poisoning]

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"Do not approach in the hunting season."

--Elastra N. Malfoy, on the subject of dugbogs

***

The hall to the Slytherin common room feels tighter and longer as I try to remember how to breathe.

Rowena glances over her shoulder, towards the dorm room we just escaped from. "Draco bought us a few seconds. We have to get you out of here."

"Rowena..." The ground keeps moving beneath my feet, swaying and swirling until I don't know right from left. "I think I'm having a panic attack..."

She shoves me into the wall. "Then snap out of it. We don't have time for this, Ella."

"I can't... Draco—and Theo..." My thoughts are jumbled. I can't make sense of what just happened. I hope desperately for this to just be a bad dream, but when I pinch the inside of my wrist, I feel it deeply. Not a dream, then.

Rowena glances back at the dorm room every few seconds. "Look, this isn't fun and games anymore. Those guys are Death Eaters. And you're their next target. We have to get you out of here now."

"W-why? Why do they want me?"

"Because you're the idiot that thought it was a good idea to make Theodore Nott catch feelings for you." The words are harsh, but her eyes are wide, scared, and I know her desire to strangle me is purely out of affection.

I nod. She's right. We need to get out of here.

A tall figure storms out of the dorm room. Theo. Our eyes meet for half a second.

I pull Rowena into the common room. The sea of bodies slows us down, but for once, my height comes in handy. I disappear beneath the towering students. Rowena sticks out more, thanks to the six inches she has on me, and we seem to realize this at the same time.

"He'll be trying to follow me. I'm easier to spot," she shouts over the roaring music. "We have to split up."

"No, Rowena—" But students push between us in their eagerness to get more alcohol, and she's gone. I'm on my own.

There must be a hundred students crammed into a space meant for half of that. It's nearly ten o'clock. Alcohol is flowing freely, the music blasting even louder. Students lose control of their limbs and inhibitions. Fighting through the crowd proves impossible. I inch towards the exit at too slow a pace.

Time drags by. Then it speeds up. I try to count the passing seconds in my head, knowing I have a one-minute window to reach the exit before Theo's chances of finding me increase exponentially. But the music is too loud and everyone is shouting and I can't breathe normally and I lose count too soon. Minutes become hours. Still, I can't move fast enough.

Just when I catch sight of the exit door, a hand clasps my wrist. I scream. The sound is lost in the crowd. I turn to find Enzo reaching for me through the crowd. Sweet, charming, innocent Enzo.

Maybe he's more like me than I give him credit for. Maybe he only plays at being innocent.

I yank my wrist out of his grasp. He digs his nails into my skin, but he isn't close enough to hold on for long. My skin splits open across my wrist as I stumble away from him, managing to put a few bodies between us.

By some miracle, I reach the door. I push through and stumble into the open hallway, gasping down air. My wrist throbs like my palms had just twenty minutes ago, aching with a new wound. I ignore the pain. I don't dare to wait for Rowena. Maybe that makes me a bad friend, but I rush to my full height and begin to run. I hope she's a smarter witch than I am.