"Pudding might not be finished yet, " Ron speculated as they walked towards the steps leading to the entrance hall.
Liana shrugged. She was about to say something, but...
"... Rip... Tear... Kill... "
There was no denying it- it was the same horrible voice Liana had heard with Harry in Lockhart's office that night they had detention together. She saw Harry jolt; obviously he'd heard it, too. But Ron and Hermione hadn't stopped; they were looking in amazement at Liana, who was stock-still, and at Harry, who was clutching at the stone wall, listening for something, and looking up and down the dimly lit passageway.
"Harry, what're you-?"
"It's that voice again- shut up a minute," Harry said.
"... Ssssoooo hungry... For sssooo long..."
Liana's eyes widened, and her head swam. There was something about that voice that reeked of her visions. "Harry, isn't this-"
"Listen!" Harry said insistently.
Ron and Hermione froze, watching him.
"... Kill... Time to kill... "
The voice was getting quieter- it seemed to be moving upwards. Liana wanted to scream. How could it go upwards? Could it fly? What WAS it?
"This way, " Harry shouted, and he began to run up the stairs and into the entrance hall, then up the marble staircase to the first floor. Liana, Ron, and Hermione followed him. "Harry, what're we-"
"Harry, I don't think this is-"
"SHH!"
Then Liana heard it again, fainter and coming from above: "... I smell blood... I SMELL BLOOD!"
That was when she screamed.
"It's going to kill someone!" Harry shouted. He ran up the next flight of steps as fast as he could, then hurtled around the whole of the second floor, Liana, Ron, and Hermione following him, and not stopping until they turned a corner into the last, deserted passage.
"Harry, what was that all about?" Ron asked. "I couldn't hear anything..."
"You couldn't?" Liana asked, confused.
Hermione gave a sudden gasp, pointing down towards the end of the corridor. "Look!"
Something was shimmering on the wall ahead. Something that looked like...
Like blood.
"No," Liana murmured. Was it possible that the blood belonged to the same person she often saw bleeding in her dreams? She clutched at Hermione for support.
They walked towards the sight slowly, trying to see through the thick darkness. There were foot-high words in the horrible bloodline substance on the wall between two windows, shimmering in the light cast by the torches:
THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS HAS BEEN OPENED. ENEMIES OF THE HEIR, BEWARE.
"What's that thing--hanging underneath?" Ron asked nervously.
As they edged nearer, Liana slipped in a large puddle of water on the floor. "Ooh!" She looked up, her heart pounding. If Ginny had been murdered while she, Liana, had abandoned her...
"Here, Li," Harry said, helping her up before Hermione could get to her. There was pity in his eyes.
They all stopped still as they saw what it was hanging from one of the torch brackets.
YOU ARE READING
Liana Lestrange and the Serpent's Secret
Fanfiction"Scars aren't ugly, Ginny, they're beautiful." "Why?" Ginny asked, confusion prominent in her eyes. "Well, a scar doesn't form on the dead," Liana said thoughtfully. "A scar means, 'I survived.'" ...
