Malefic [BOOK 2]

Dreaming a Dream I've Never Seen Even in Dreams

Leo was standing with her back against the door of her potions class. She had been waiting there for a while. There was supposed to be a potion test today. She had been preparing for it since last week only to find out that there were no students in the class. The hallway was oddly empty as well. Not a single student walked past her in the last hour she had been waiting. Although she was not entirely sure for how long she had been just standing there. 

There were no teachers and no students. The entire castle felt empty and eerily quiet.

She glanced from left to right, expecting someone to pop out of nowhere and wish her a happy birthday. But it wasn't her birthday and Hogwarts was never empty. Also, she didn't know enough people to throw her surprise parties. That was the cost one has to pay to be an introvert.

Leo wondered if she should find this phenomenon odd but she felt as if what was happening was completely normal. Like Hogwarts was supposed to be empty on a Monday morning.

She pushed off the wooden door and started walking towards the left. 

Why? She didn't know.

Her feet moved on their own. She didn't mind. Walking was better than standing around and doing nothing. If the potions class was cancelled, it was a good omen. Now, she had the time to investigate where the students and the teachers had disappeared. Usually, this is exactly how zombie outbreaks start. But the Hogwarts x Zombie trope was not something she wanted to look forward to.

She could hear her shoes tapping against the floor echoing through the entire school. It felt hypnotizing. That was when Leo started noticing something odd. It was like a  gut feeling that continuously poked at the back of her but she could not put a finger on it.

She kept walking. Coming across a flight of stairs she lifted her red dress and raised an eyebrow. Why on earth was she wearing a red dress? She turned to her side to come face to face with a mirror.

Leo's jaw dropped to the floor when she saw her reflection staring back at her. She had to wave her hand in front of her eyes to confirm that it was indeed her reflection and not someone else's. She couldn't help but walk closer to the mirror and take a better look.

Leo could not remember the last time she was dressed up like that. It was no ball gown that she was wearing. She did not look like a princess or even a main character that is going to be announced as the prom queen. 

Draped in the softest and most expensive-looking silk dress, Leo looked like a villain. The off-shoulder neckline exposed her sharp collarbone that was decorated with a beautiful necklace with a shiny pearl locket. Her lips were tinted a deep shade of red. She looked dangerously beautiful.

She was so captivated by her own beauty that forgot all about her surroundings. A very unpleasant noise echoed against the walls startling Leo out of her trance. She backed away from the mirror and started running down the stairs. Her dress rippled against the wind like water making her appear like an illusion.

In normal circumstances, Leo would run away from life-threatening noises. But she found herself running towards it.

The strange sound matched her own footsteps. It was like someone was slamming their hands on all the wrong keys of a piano creating strange cacophony or creepy tunes.

The noises got louder and louder until the only thing she could hear was the piano. At one point the sound got so loud that the walls shook around her along with her heart drumming against her chest. 

She had entered an unknown part of Hogwarts. She couldn't recognise the white walls that looked like they were freshly painted. The walls were decorated with intricate designs painted in gold. Each pillar had a different sculpture but Leo started to notice a pattern in them.