Walk the Path of Shadows

Walk The Path of Shadows

Chapter #1

A New Arrival

The night was gray with clouds and hammering rain. Then again, the days were always dismal in Draco Malfoy’s eyes. It was midnight, but sleep’s consoling embrace had not welcomed him as of yet. The clock blared its digital, red numbers at him angrily, as though it wasn’t happy that he couldn’t sleep either. Light permeated the thick darkness in the form of a slithering bolt like a serpent’s tongue. It struck a vulnerable tree and set it momentarily alight before the waves of crashing precipitation relinquished its emblazoned flames. The sound of thunder followed obediently but none started awake so that Draco may talk to them. Boredom was one thing worse from getting no sleep. It was ironic how the two went hand-in-hand.

Without really pondering his actions, Draco swung himself out of bed and stood, bare-footed, upon the cold, stone floors of the Slytherin dormitory. Crabbe and Goyle snorted noisily in their sleep. That was natural to the human swine of this school. They could hardly pass as Homo sapiens with their piggish, round faces. Most of the Slytherins were like that. The only one who seemed at all different lay in bed, sprawled over his covers with drool hanging precariously from a single fang.

Everette was a vampire, one of the strangest things to walk through the Hogwarts grounds without being cursed. He was disturbingly good-natured and well humoured. In summary, he was everything Draco envied for he couldn’t find a speck of such traits in himself.

Stepping carefully from the dormitory, Draco made his way down the spiralling stairs. He had long forgotten socks and the floors were never warm. He shivered as a draft from the window sent an icy chill towards him and spread through his flesh like an infectious disease. Something else was there...

A sibilant hiss emanated within the circular chamber where all the bottle green armchairs sat and a fire blazed. Malfoy crept soundlessly towards the mantle where it was warm, hoping that this hiss would dissipate as swiftly as it had come so that he may sit undisturbed. Simultaneously, he bade it not to leave. It was always lonely at night, when the cold wind bit him through his sheets and he lay awake in bed. But that was ridiculous, a hissing noise in his head could not provide him with solace and company. Only Everette had achieved such an impossible task.

As he sat in front of the blazing flames and listened as they crackled and spat sparks, he noticed that the hiss remained with him. Part of him felt a deep sense of foreboding settle within him, part of him was relieved that he was not alone.

It’s only your mind...

He shook his head to clear all thoughts and sounds, to simply feel the warmth and then return to the dormitories. Hopefully the heat would stay with him.

But as he stood and made the retired up the steps, the heat dispersed and the hiss remained.

Slightly troubled by the inexorable noises, Draco pulled the covers over his head and curled up tightly. The cold was more frigid and nipping now, as though the wind had many jagged fangs that sunk through his flesh to permeate his blood stream and purge his body of all warmth..

Kill... a voice whispered within his mind.

His eyes snapped open as the voice lingered and then left, as though it weren’t merely a sound but a presence within itself. The cold was replaced by an icy numbness that could not be described as cold. Quite the contrary, he felt as though his very bones writhed with flame. However, he was strangely calm. His heart did not race, he didn’t scream, though he was vaguely aware of his body’s convulsive twitches. As swiftly as the sensation had overtaken him it vanished and he was left in silence. Soundlessly, he pulled the covers over his head and closed his gray eyes.

The sun pulled itself up from the horizon at exactly six o'clock that morning. It stretched its rays over the damp ground and past the dark towers and intimidating turrets of Hogwarts to the forest beyond. Malfoy sat upright, ignorant of the past events. He dismissed them all as a dream and stood up as though to prove it. But the floor beneath him felt the familiar cold, as he had last night.

Ignorant once more, Draco tossed a fallen pillow from the floor at Everette’s face. It struck him in the forehead and bounced off to the side. Everette sat bolt upright with a snort of indignance and wiped his mouth.

"What!?" he grumbled while stretching. He scratched his head irritably.

"We have to go down to the Great Hall for breakfast, idiot," Draco answered, though he knew it was a rhetorical question.

"I know that, I just don’t want to," Everette answered with a groggy smack of his lips and started sifting through his bedside cabinet.

Draco knew what he was searching for. The vampire was generally harmless but only if he took a draught before school. Everette gripped a syringe and a vial of blood in his hands. He shot down the vial swiftly before injecting the clear liquid into his jugular.

"I’ll meet you there," Everette prompted afterward and waved a hand at Draco to go on.

Draco nodded and changed into his robes. He knew his friend needed five minutes for the potions to take their effect before he walked among people again. He said that since he’d been taking it, he’d never longed for human blood again. Yet Draco knew better. It seemed the fat arteries beneath Crabbe and Goyle’s necks were too juicy to resist. Yet, he did. He knew he’d be expelled if he lay a finger or a fang upon a student at Hogwarts, no matter how dull-witted they happened to be.

As Draco crept down the hallway, his mind fell upon last night. Had it been a dream? The wavering incubus frayed as Draco clutched at it, trying deftly to remember. Each time he attempted to grab hold of something solid it dissolved like water between his fingers until all he could remember was the voice and his body’s sudden convulsions. There was no more. Again, he disregarded it. It was a very life-like dream, he concluded.

The Great Hall was swarming with students, as usual. The smells of breakfast didn’t entice him as they usually did. He felt full but in an empty sense. He couldn’t place his feelings; he simply had no wish to eat.

"Maybe I’m sick," he muttered to himself.

"Looks to me like that may be the case," a familiar voice mocked. "I’m surprised it took you that long to realize it. Has your mind finally found logic in the world?" Ron Weasley persisted. Harry Potter and Hermione Granger were, naturally, right behind him.

"Or perhaps his mind is so corrupted that he relishes in the thought of being a psychopath," Everette spoke from behind the trio of wizards. "You know, it’s not very smart to provoke an insane wizard. He may curse you." The vampire spoke these words as though it were completely normal, smiling innocently from his towering position over them.

Ron scowled and reached for a fork to fling food at Everette’s face but Harry reflexively grabbed him by the back of his robes and pulled him aside with Hermione.

Draco said nothing, he was feeling very dull at the moment and their taunts didn’t bother him for now.

"They’re right, though," Everette said as he sat down. "You’ve been acting strangely. Anything you mind telling me?"

Draco shook his head, "I just don’t feel well. Probably just the stress of the first day."

"Maybe you should go up to the hospital wing," Everette suggested.

"You know, even wizards get sick sometimes. It may just be the flu or a common cold."

Everette rolled his eyes and sighed, "well, your lack of sleep could just be making you feel like rubbish anyway."

"How’d you know I couldn’t sleep?"

"I just tend to wake when my friend gets out of bed then comes back and starts writhing under the sheets. I didn’t ask you then because you seemed to finally be drifting off afterward."

Draco blinked dumbly and rubbed his eyes, "then it actually happened?"

Everette sighed melodramatically, "common cold indeed."

Draco managed to punch Everette in the shoulder but said no more. Now he had something to ponder, and it wasn’t a dream but vivid reality; something he could firmly grasp.

"We’ll just go to class and see how you feel afterward, alright?"

He nodded with a sigh. He didn’t eat anything, no matter how much Everette encouraged. Finally, they left the Great Hall to gather their books from their dormitories and go to class.

"Care of Magical Creatures first. It seems we’re still being taught by that hairy excuse for a man, Hagrid. Hopefully one of his horrible creatures will injure the famous and oh-so wonderful Harry Potter. Maybe then Dumbledore would send him packing!"

"You know Dumbledore would do no such thing," Everette grumbled. "But I agree, Hagrid may be friendly but he’s not fit to be a teacher."

They crossed the Hogwarts grounds, complaining about the half-giant endlessly before stopping in front of the small hut. Beside it was a paddock where about a dozen odd-looking beasts were tethered. From far away, a fair few looked practically headless. However, once they neared the fences, they could be seen as having owl heads, flat and nearly featureless except for the great yellow eyes and sharp beaks. Those that were not owl-like had the heads of eagles or some other bird of prey. They were bipedal and their bodies were dragon-like and scaly, propped up on thick hindquarters. They flapped bat-like wings and screeched absently while tossing their heads.

"What are those?" Draco said in disgust. "Hopefully we don’t have to ride them like the hippogriffs."

"Indeed," Everette murmured. "But I hear that the Nogardwols are generally well tempered."

Draco sneered in growing revulsion. The creatures kept snapping at each other and lifting huge, scaly paws to backhand the others. "Any creature held captive by Hagrid is bound to grow into a menace," he grumbled.

Soon after most of the students had gathered, Hagrid lumbered down the small steps of his hut. A few late stragglers stumbled over with their book bags shouldered heavily over their necks. Harry, Ron and Hermione stood by Hagrid, as always. Draco sneered and turned to look about the others. There was a girl who stood a fair ways from the crowds of chattering friends that he didn’t recognize.

"Who’s she?" Draco asked, pointing. Her hood was pulled over her face but what little he could see was not familiar.

Everette shrugged. "Dunno, but she’s a Gryffindor." He gestured to the lion of Gryffindor roaring nobly upon her robes.

"We’ll be taking care of these here Nogardwols for the firs’ part o’ the year so be prepared. They’re hard ter handle but I’m sure you’ll all get along fine." He looked to Malfoy doubtfully but raised his bushy eyebrows to Harry. "Why dun you start, Harry?" he asked excitedly.

Even the famous Harry Potter seemed slightly uncomfortable with approaching these savage beasts. The one Hagrid had chosen seemed one of the most brutal.

Draco only pretended to watch, but his curiosity was on the newcomer whose face had not yet been revealed. Her hair was black, that he was certain. It hung from her robes down to her waist in straight, ebony waves. Her skin was pale, from what he could see. These traits seemed more characterized towards Slytherins, yet the scarlet and gold emblem of the Gryffindor lion stood proudly still upon her breast.

Draco snapped back to attention as he found Hagrid handing him the lead to one of the vicious birds. It seemed that Harry, Ron and Hermione were getting on fine with theirs. Draco and Everette stood a distance from their sable bird as it tossed its head and regarded them through cruel, crimson optics.

"His name’s Blackie," Hagrid said fondly and patted the bird’s beak. Quite suddenly, the bird snapped at Hagrid’s hand and hissed spitefully. Draco and Everette stumbled backwards, dumbstruck. They’d never seen a creature attack Hagrid with such malice before.

"Not anymore, it isn’t," Everette declared heartily and slapped Draco on the shoulder. "His name’s Lucifer."

Hagrid scowled and rushed to his hut to tend to his wound, Harry and his friends following worriedly with their Nogardwol.

Though Everette seemed to have thoroughly enjoyed Lucifer’s attempt to snap off Hagrid’s hand, Draco was now too terrified to approach it.

"Go on, Draco, you first," Everette said, smiling sincerely. Draco longed to push him into that big, brown puddle of mud just behind him but resisted.

"You don’t have to be afraid," a voice said and Draco turned to see the masked girl take Lucifer’s beak in her hands and turn him to face her. She whispered to him sweetly, yet her voice was more like the wind than Draco had ever encountered. It seemed to surround them and drown them in its passionate sibilance. Lucifer sat contentedly and made a chortling noise that resembled a purr.

Everette grimaced and stepped forward to Lucifer, though more towards the girl. "How’d you do that?" he asked with a suspicious note.

"I have a way with animals," she replied simply in a tone that suggested that was not all that was hidden behind the cloak.

"She irritates me already," Everette grumbled and put an arm around Lucifer’s neck without pondering the consequences. However, Lucifer lay docile and continued to purr.

Draco didn’t answer, he felt as though her voice was still with him, whispering to him. Had it been a different language?

"Draco? Hey, Draco, are you feeling ok?"

He didn’t know. The world spun before him and the colours coalesced with one another to the effect of a painter’s palette. He didn’t even remember hitting the ground with a resonant thud or the astonished gasps that ensued.

Draco awoke in the hospital wing with two faces above him: one of them obscured by a hood, the other pale and worried. However usual it was for Everette to look solemn and spectral, he looked particularly so now.

"It’s amazing that you’ve recovered so quickly. I didn’t think you’d be affected by my speech and I’m sorry that my ignorance caused you any inconvenience. However, you seem strong to have rejuvenated fully within an hour’s time." Her voice was calm and peaceful with a pristine serenity that caused him relief.

"Who are you?" Draco asked with an inquisitively raised brow.

"Jade Sigil," the girl replied in her lulling tone.

"She doesn’t belong here, Draco. Don’t let her fool you," Everette spoke suddenly. His voice was unnaturally cold with a brittle note that made Draco wonder whether it was truly Everette before him.

"What are you talking about, Everette?"

"She’s an elf," he replied dryly.

"A wha-?"

"My differences make me no less welcome here than you yourself. If I am not mistaken you share not the same blood as those who walk these halls in majority. In fact, if I were to speak truth, I’d say you were less welcome than I. At least elves have a civilized manner of living and feed not upon the flesh of another human creature."

"I’m not like them, I don’t drink blood," Everette spat bitterly and turned away from the girl.

From beneath the hood a flicker of a smile crossed the lips of Jade and she gave a soft chuckle. "You have no reason to hate me so."

"And yet I have every reason and every right to hate and deal out judgement upon others as I please. Leave your lessons of morality to those who wish to hear it. You have no business here," Everette murmured with a hollow distinction in his speech.

Jade stood silently. She turned and walked steadily towards the door, yet it would appear that invisible wings had sprung from her shoulder blades and magically lifted her gracefully across the room. Her hand paused upon the doorknob and she spoke under her breath.

"If ever you wish to speak to me upon matters of such racism, I’d be glad to smooth it over with you, Everette. But as long as you feel I am a burden here I shall not hinder you. Good day."

Draco groaned and sat up, rubbing his temples.

"She bothers me," Everette muttered with an absent shift of his weight upon the bedside. "She acts like that Hermione Granger, if you ask me."

"No, Hermione Granger acts superior and intelligent. She just seems genuine but at the same time absurd."

Everette managed a short, harsh laugh. "Indeed."

After a short visit from Madame Pomfrey, Draco was released without any real medical care, though the reason he’d been there at all was not disclosed. He returned to the Slytherin dormitory practically normal except for the wandering memories of what had happened. Certain thoughts and questions plagued him as he walked the spiral staircase to their bedrooms.

"Everette, why exactly did I black out? How come no one else was affected?"

The vampire shrugged with a quizzically furrowed brow. "She seems to know but I wouldn’t go asking her. I don’t trust her."

Draco shrugged, deciding not to pursue the topic. It seemed to aggravate his friend. "Oh well," was all he could say.

When Draco first lay upon the mattress of his four-poster, he hadn’t believed that sleep would ever find him. Quite the contrary, he fell asleep the moment he lay down. One would have thought that ponderings of recent events would have kept him wide-awake. Stranger yet, no dreams molested his usually blighted slumber. All things lead to a single conclusion; the seventh year of Hogwarts would be no less exciting than the past six had been.