Daughter of Mine | Harry Potter

XIX.

Lalia opened her eyes to find herself underwater in the Black Lake once again. This time when she attempted to move she was able to. When she turned around after swimming away to see what was holding her down last time, she saw herself floating there. Her eyes were closed and her skin extremely pale.

The girl recoiled in shock before noticing the cord attached to her leg and the lake floor. She attempted to swim towards the rope attached to her leg, but her kicking legs failed her.

There was a tug on her ankle and Lalia looked down to see her own ankle bound to the lake floor.

Lalia tugged on the rope, but it remained firmly in place.

The rope tightened. No longer slack and being beaten by the rocking in the water, Lalia stopped resisting at looked at the rope taut in the water. Suddenly, her ankle was pulled down forcefully.

Her screams were silent bubbles in the water. Lalia felt her legs sinking into the Black Lake floor. She fought against the pull on her legs as she continued to sink. Lalia began crying as her torso was submerged in the ground and before long, her head reached the sandy bottom.

Voices echoed around Lalia's ears.

"Come seek us where our voices sound,

We cannot sing above the ground,

And while you're searching, ponder this:

We've taken what you'll sorely miss,

An hour long you'll have to look,

And to recover what we took,

But past an hour - the prospect's black,

Too late, it's gone, it won't come back."

She closed her mouth and silently cried as she could do nothing but see the floor approaching her line of sight. Glancing around desperately, Lalia realized there was nothing she could do as tears fell out of her eyes.

Lalia closed her eyes tightly as her head became fully submerged. She silently pleaded in her head.

Taking a deep breath, Lalia opened her eyes and saw the ceiling of her dormitory above her. The girl choked out a sob as she realized it had just been a dream. Lalia sat up in her bed and saw the figure of a woman with light brunette hair in the doorway. She squinted her eyes at the faded figure.

"Mom?" she asked quietly.

Lalia rubbed at her eyes to see an empty doorway. Her throat clenched and eyes watered as she laid back down. She curled into the fetal position and attempted to quietly sob, waiting for the sun to rise.

Lalia felt like time had been standing still. The darkness was still covering the sky outside when her arm began to burn. She hissed in pain, turning to look at it, seeing it redden suddenly in front of her. The pain continued to burn at her skin until it immediately stopped. Her gaze returned to her upper arm where a red hand print remained.

The night passed more quickly from that point on. Lalia found herself sitting next to the trio that had waved her over to Gryffindor table.

Harry had begun urgently telling them about his previous night when he had deciphered the golden egg. He began to recant the song for them:

""Come seek us where our voices sound,

We cannot sing above the ground,

And while you're searching, ponder this:"

Before Harry could continue, Lalia finished for him.

"We've taken what you'll sorely miss,

An hour long you'll have to look,