The room is dark, and alarmingly cold. The air around her smells rotten. Cassie turns, shivering, trying to make out anything in the darkness. She's alone. There are no windows in the small room, but behind her there are bars holding her in. Or are they keeping her out? They are made of a strong metal, most likely enchanted. It's a cell. Cassie's chest tightens, feeling so cold now that it's become painful. She remembers this feeling, from somewhere else... Oh! Yes, the dementors, on the train. They had made her feel this way; cold, and dark, and empty.
Her thin, pale fingers wrap around the bars, looking down the dark hallway. It seems to go on forever, every few feet a new set of bars appearing, going and going until Cassie can't see any more. Suddenly, she gets the feeling she's not alone any longer, chills running down her spine.
From behind her she hears a low growl, like that of a wild animal. Fearfully, she turns around, grey eyes searching in the darkness. Stepping forward out of the shadows, a black dog (much larger than any regular dog, really, but skinny and sickly looking, as if it hadn't eaten in weeks). It's dark fur is shaggy and matted together. The dog bares it's teeth, lip curling up in a sneer. The growl erupts, low and guttural, from the dogs chest. It's eyes, however, are familiar. They are identical to her own, a light silvery-grey, and Cassie's sure if she looked close enough there would be tiny speck of blues as well — but she's much too frightened to look any closer. She's backed as far away as she can, her back pressing uncomfortably into the bars of the cell. The dog, crouched low to the ground like it's ready to pounce, creeps forward again. Cassie's eyes widen, hands scrambling in the darkness for something, anything, to use to defend herself. There is nothing.
Cassie turns, ready to shout for help, but her scream is caught in her throat; behind the bars, waiting for her, is the hooded figure of a dementor. The hallow sound like nails on a chalkboard fill her ears. She is frozen in place, the growling behind her slowly fading, as her body grows impossibly colder, emptier, until there is nothing left.
When Cassie wakes up, she is screaming.
"Oh!" Gasps a startled voice.
Cassie's eyes fly open just as someone's hands grab onto her shoulders. Standing above her, grasping her shoulders tightly, is Professor Lupin. His face is full of worry, mouth downturned in a grimace.
"There you are, Cassie. Easy now. You're in the hospital wing." He let's go of her, slowly standing back upright, and sighs.
The hospital wing? What on earth was she doing there?
"Wha— Professor, I—"
Professor Lupin hushes her, quickly. "Don't worry yourself, everything is quite alright. "
"No! No, I... I thought it was going to— to kill me!" Cassie shouts, looking around the room frantically. Her heart feels like it's beating a hundred miles an hour in her chest, her head pounding. Even as she grasped reality again she was waiting. She was sure it would come, the soulless creature would come for her, was already hidden around some dark corner patiently waiting.
"What? Who, Cassie?" Professor Lupin asks, eyes widened in shock.
Cassie feels tears well in her eyes, her breathing fast and heavy, as if her lungs are struggling to keep up. "I'm going to die."
"Cassie, you're safe here, you fainted is all. You're going to be just fine." Lupin tried to console her, without much luck. "Listen to me, just breathe. Madam Pomfrey will be back soon. Take deep breaths—"
"No, Professor, you don't understand! I— I saw the grim!"
"Cassie?"
Cassie jumps, yelping, her paranoid eyes looking around the room.
YOU ARE READING
The Grim - PoA
Fanfiction"So what was worse? Being a liar, a traitor, or being honest about what she was planning? Certainly the last, she thought. They could never know. She could easily imagine what they would think of her then, and perhaps it was selfish of her. But Cass...
