ꜱᴇʀᴘᴇɴᴛɪɴᴇ ꜱᴇʀɪᴇꜱ | ᴛᴏᴍɪᴏɴᴇ

Whispers from the Past, ch. 9

CHAPTER NINE

In Ginny's room, Ginny offered Harmony the bed instead of the cold floor, but Harmony insisted she was alright. The cold floor and a couple bed covers were much better than the conditions she endured for several nights in the past two weeks. She liked camping, but having no tent, no blanket, and no food was unbearable. She desperately wished she had thought of putting an Extension charm on her sack and packed a few essentials before leaving the Riddle mansion or Shell cottage. Luckily, Harmony found a few galleons in the sack and she was able to get by until that man, Zeth, found her.

Now, as though everything she'd experienced had been a dream, she was safely chatting away with Ginny like they used to.

"Ron's been worried about you, you know," Ginny said from the bed. "Never seen him so happy as when you showed up today."

"Really?" Harmony said. She hadn't noticed.

"Oh yeah," Ginny said after a deep yawn which caught on to Harmony.

"Stop it," Harmony said, fighting the yawn, "you're making me tired."

Ginny giggled and moved onto her side with a sigh as though getting ready to fall asleep. Since things appeared to be winding down, Harmony slipped underneath her bedcovers and shifted into a comfortable position. She sighed, letting her body grow heavy and sink into the floor.

Then out of the blue: "So," Ginny said, making Harmony float back up to wakefulness, "Lord Voldemort, what's he like?"

Harmony was taken aback. "Er...."

"He must've been really horrible, huh?"

"Well-"

"I know you said he taught you lessons and everything, but did you get to know him personally?"

"Y-"

"But if you don't want to talk about it, I would completely understand. I'm just worried, but also curious because how many people know Lord Voldemort personally and live to tell others about it?"

"Yes, I knew him personally," Harmony explained. "I knew him in a way none of his Death Eaters ever knew him." A flood of excitement came over her, and she had the sudden desire to tell Ginny everything.

"What kind of things did you two talk about?"

Harmony thought a moment; they had talked about so much, but then she remembered, "He talked to me about his family."

"His family," Ginny said in a hushed voice. "That's intense."

"Yeah, it's a bit of a touchy subject for him," Harmony said and she noticed she must have sounded like a school-girl boasting about how well she knew her boyfriend. So childish, she thought, so normal. Harmony rolled over so her back was to Ginny. "I'm a bit tired now. We should get some rest."

"Wait," Ginny quickly added. "Did you and Voldemort ever—?"

"Goodnight, Ginny," Harmony intervened. Her heart ached when she was first met with silence. But after a second she heard Ginny grumble stubbornly and move around in her bed until she was comfortable.

Harmony quickly fell back into a light doze. She slowly began to feel herself floating, and in her mind's eye flashed forests and fields whisking by below her. It was like a part of her was traveling at a high speed out into the night; though she was still aware her body remained in the bed on the floor. Her outer-body then spotted familiar scenery. She saw the inn she had stayed at the night before, a beach, and finally Shell cottage sitting all by its lonesome in the moonlight next to the water that was as black as night. A gust of wind blew across the sea and Harmony shivered in her bed.

Ginny let loose a sudden snore which ripped Harmony awake and she was no longer flying above the very building she slept in. Harmony moved over to look up at Ginny irritably. She hoped her snoring wasn't going to be a constant problem throughout the night; she really needed some sleep. Harmony sighed and waited for sleep to return.

But something within the room caught her eye.

As her eyes scanned away from Ginny, there was the slightest movement in the corner of the bedroom. Harmony squinted at a ray of moonlight that drifted across to the wall, and she made out a pale shape. To her it looked kind of like…

Harmony shot up in her bed. The pale figure looked like a face, and it was staring directly at her! The breath from her gasp choked off the scream that tried to crawl its way out of her mouth. She'd know that face anywhere.

It was his face.