Inside My Mind (A Harry Potter Fanfiction)

Chapter VI

Hogwarts, Unplottable Location, Scotland, Great Britain

Thursday the 31st of October 1991

8:10 PM

The screaming erupted and Dumbledore stood up just as Riddle had. Dumbledore murmured something to Riddle and he nodded before jumping over the table, gracefully and sprinting down the aisle and out of the Great Hall. Bella thought she saw a smirk on his face as he passed her but it was gone in the next second. Dumbledore touched the tip of his wand to his throat before murmuring an incantation.

"SILENCE!" he rumbled. The screams quieted almost instantly, ending with an audible squeak as they jumped at his roar.

"Prefects, lead your Houses back to dormitories immediately!" Dumbledore commanded. Percy stood up almost immediately and he was in element. Percy gathered everyone together.

"Follow me! Stick close, first years! No need to fear a troll if you follow my orders! Stay close behind me. Excuse me, first years coming through!" Percy said, herding the younger students first. Ron slipped in beside Bella.

"How could a troll get in? Isn't Hogwarts supposed to be one of the safest places in all of the Wizarding World?" snapped Bella in annoyance. She couldn't help feel a whole nagging feeling about the situation. There was something or someone she was forgetting about.

"Don't ask me. Trolls are really stupid. Maybe the ghost-thing, Peeves let it in," Ron said with a carefree shrug. Bella rolled her eyes at his stupidity. But she realized it wasn't exactly stupidity. It was merely his ignorance. He didn't know that Hogwarts wouldn't let Peeves let a troll in if it was a mere joke. Hogwarts was alive and she did things for a purpose. She was doing something…

"Peeves is a poltergeist, Ron and…Hermione," Bella whispered, her eyes suddenly wide with terror. Ron froze and looked at her in shock before shrugging.

"What about her?"

"She doesn't know about the troll, moron!" Bella snapped. She flinched when she realized that she sounded like Riddle but brushed it off. It must've been all the detentions that she attended with him there.

"Oh, uh, well…all right, fine! But Percy'd better not see us," Ron snapped before they crept forward. Bella felt a flash of fury as her friend thought that his brother finding out that they were gone was worse than Hermione ending up dead. Bella couldn't imagine what she'd do if she were without her…

Bella tapped Parvati on the shoulder. The Indian girl spun around, her eyes round in fright. Bella could almost taste her fear in the air and she frowned at that thought.

"Er, Parvati, which bathroom did you see Hermione in earlier?" Bella asked, rather awkwardly. Parvati didn't even seem to consider why she was asking and spouted out the answer in a timid voice. Bella rolled her eyes at the girl's naivety before Ron and her took off down the hallways. Suddenly, Ron jerked her back as the prepared to turn down another corridor.

"Stop, Percy!" Ron hissed, quietly. But they didn't see Percy. They saw Snape and Riddle. They seemed to be arguing near the third floor corridor. Riddle caught sight of her and he grabbed Snape's left arm and squeezed on his forearm. Snape cried out in pain and Riddle jerked his head at the other corridor, the way to the Gryffindor Tower, and Bella snorted and went the other way, nearer to the dungeons. Bella pulled Ron along as Riddle watched, his eyes horrified.