Shifted: Book One

Chapter Twenty Nine - Cemetery

The sky was much darker now, the clouds looked drained, as though they had cried so much all they felt was numbness. There was very little light too, the ubiquitous fog consumed the air. Before Hazel sat a great black cauldron and surrounded her were grave stones and statues of those who had passed. The grass was muddy and dirty too, Hazel's hands were almost painted in dirt. She dusted herself down and slowly stood up, looking round for the other boys. Harry was just on her left, who was already stood up and reading the statue behind her. Hazel rushed to Cedric and helped him up softly, before looking for the cup that had lost it's glow.

"Are you okay, both of you?", Hazel asked worryingly. The boys nodded with uncertainty before scanning their surroundings.

"Where are we?", Cedric asked.

Harry studied what was around him and he looked at everything as though it was familiar.

"I've been here before", Harry admitted, brushing his finger against the cold stone statue.

Cedric approached the dim cup and looked at it in wonder.

"It's a port key", he stated.

Hazel's eyebrows furrowed as she approached Cedric who looked at the cup, admiring the object.

"What's a port key?", Hazel asked, holding her arms together and shivering in the bitter air.

"It's an item that's used to transport you to another pre-determined location, the object can be anything. But why is the cup a port key?", he explained whilst walking away from the cup in the opposite direction, Hazel shortly following him.

Hazel caught Harry as he stroked his hand over a name engraved in an old statue. The name read 'Tom Riddle'. Harry's eyes shot open and his breathing immediately quickened in pace.

"Both of you, we have to get back to the cup now!", he demanded, but it was too late.

"Harry, what is it? What's the matter?", Hazel asked, approaching Harry suddenly before being startled by an intruder walking towards them.

Harry yelled and collapsed onto the ground as the cauldron before him was lit on amber flames beneath. He pressed onto his scar on his forehead and called out in agony. Hazel and Cedric raced to Harry completely clueless with what to do.

"Get back to the cup!", Harry demanded.

The unknown figure approached the three. He has fair dark hair that sat on his hunched shoulders, and a belly that poked out. In his hairy hands and cloaked arms, he held an unknown creature swaddled in an ominous sheet of black. Slowly getting closer and closer to them, a white, skull like face appeared from the blanket. It was no bigger than the cup itself, it had pale eyes, thin lips and a flat nose. The thing looked sick.

Cedric whipped his wand out of his pocket and pointed it at the stranger.

"Who are you? What do you want?", he asked demandingly.

The pale creature spoke in a quiet yet powerful tone.

"Kill him", the thing spoke.

Hazel recognised the man holding the swaddled, white headed thing. She doesn't know how, but she knew who it was. Wormtail.

Wormtail took out his wand and directed it at Cedric.

"Avada Kedrava!", he casted.

"No!", Hazel screamed, racing to Cedric and pushing him away before it could hit him.

Hazel was struck by the blinding light and fell to the ground. Toxicity boiled through her veins, her blood felt contaminated and rotten. Her eyes became red and burned as though someone had poured boiling water into her sore sockets. Her skin grew colourless, her complexion faded to an ashy tint and her natural fair and glowing skin had sunken in tone to something so lifeless. She shrieked in agony and pain, she had never felt something so unbelievably horrific in her life, it was excruciatingly raw. Her body jolted and shivered, as though she had been electrocuted by hundreds of high voltage bolts. Cedric collapsed to the ground beside her in complete shell shock.