The Snake in the Waters [Tom Riddle]

Chapter 17 - [Nightmares and Dreams]

Scotland, Hogwarts: May 1944

As with every dinner, it was loud in the great hall that evening. The students laughed, the young first graders looked around in amazement in the hall and admired the enchanted ceiling, which that night showed a sky covered by dark clouds, where a violent storm could break out at any time.

Maélys sat together with Abraxas Malfoy at the Slytherin table, but she did not take part in the conversation that the young heir had animated with Rufus Lestrange. She could feel that something wasn't the way it should be, but she couldn't say what should be different. So she sat quietly in her seat and kept looking carefully around the great hall. That the magic blanket kept thundering made her really nervous for the first time.

Something was wrong.

Nobody seemed worried except her, but she knew she was not mistaken. She could rely on her abilities to let her know when something was wrong.

"Is something bothering you, Miss d'Avaugour?"

Abraxas, who was sitting next to Maélys, had noticed how the blonde student had looked around the great hall. She had never shown nervousness and he didn't like that at all.

"Everything is fine," replied the blonde student, but for the first time she couldn't convince him. Rufus Lestrange also knew from her tense posture that she was not telling the truth.

What makes a normally calm girl nervous, he asked himself.

Abraxas wanted to take her hand in his and persuade her that everything was well when the heavy gates of the great hall were thrown open with a loud bang. It was instantly quiet and all eyes were on the ten strangers who stood in the doorway.

Then, Maélys knew what was wrong.

The men were hunters. And she was the prey. They came to finish what they started months ago and would not stop until she was dead.

Maélys glanced at the professors' table, but it was suddenly empty and there were no teachers to be seen. One of the hunters spotted her and pointed his crossbow at the girl.

The bullet hit her arm, tearing open a big flesh wound.

The girl heard several triggers being pulled at once and she felt a sharp pain in her legs, falling over onto her stomach.

Another bullet had hit her in her thigh.

She hissed and tried to get up again when something shot in her back.

Blind with pain,  she tried to defend herself against the attackers before a dagger hit her arm and tore a deep wound.

A throwing knife landed in her abdomen and she cried out.

She opened her eyes in surprise and gasped for breath. A sword in her back was stuck deep, scratching her heart.

She fell to her knees and looked desperately at the house tables. But these were empty. The students were gone.

Only one black-haired young man was still sitting at the Slytherin table and looking at her curiously. It was the boy with the beautiful blue eyes. He got up as if he wanted to see the spectacle up close and stopped for a moment.

His shining eyes did not leave hers and time seemed to stand still.

Until another dagger was struck in Maélys' back and she died with an excruciating cry.

***

In that same night, several hundred miles away, on another continent, another blonde woman had a dream.

She was standing on the edge of a cliff. Far below her, the ocean waves hit the rocks.

The woman turned her back to the cliff and looked to the forest before her. Light shone between the trees and illuminated the black night.

She took a few steps forward and entered the forest, closing her eyes or else the light would blind her. Walking deeper into the woods, she finally opened her eyes when she saw the light behind her eyelids dimmer.

As she looked around, she saw that she now was in a clearing and the light that shone so brightly came from a woman.

The other woman stood with her back to her, but she still recognized her.

"Sister!"

The blonde woman tried to run to her but she couldn'd move her body.

Instead she had to watch as her sister disappeared between the dark, taking the light with her.

And the blonde woman was again left in the dark.

"Sister, come back!"

***

Both girls woke up screaming the next morning.