“Are you sure you’re willing to do this?” Bella asked, her dark eyes surveying Jeffrey.
“I am. For the Dark Lord, I’d do anything.”
“Good. You know what to do?”
“Of course.” Bella nodded and raised her wand. She had killed many times, but none of her victims had been willing before. Most people would feel terrible at the thought of killing a friend, but Bella looked at it as an experience.
“Avada Kedavra! ” Jeff saw bright green; he felt a burning sensation, a rushing noise through his ears, the smell of smoke. He was lying on the ground. He could feel hard rocks digging into his back and as he opened his eyes, he could see stormy clouds swirling above him. He was wearing soft white robes. He gingerly rose and looked around at the many people running about the barren ground, laughing and talking. He had no time for them.
“My Lord?!” He yelled. No one paid him any attention.
“Who are you looking for?” asked a deep voice, kindly. He turned around and saw a tall man, who looked like he’d died in his forties.
“The Dark Lord.” The man’s tone change dramatically as he looked at Jeff in disgust.
“You’re one of his followers?” Jeff nodded; he didn’t care what other people thought of him. The Dark Lord had always been right, and justified.
“Then go! Go to those mountains! You’ll find him there; I hope you never leave! I hope the Crackacks get you!” The man turned sharply and left. Jeff shook his head in confusion, wondering what the hell Crackacks were. He set off towards the towering mountains, ready to inform the Dark Lord of the plan.
***
“My feet hurt…” moaned Lillian, deliberately trying to make the journey as difficult as possible for her brother. “Are we there yet? Jamie, give me some more of you’re water; I’ve drank all mine. We’ve been walking for days and we still haven’t reached the mountains yet! Let’s give up, let’s go home…”
“Shut-up, Lily.”
“Ja-a-a-am-mie-e-e!” She whined, hiding the small smirk that had crept onto her face.
“Lillian! Will you please, for once in your miserable little life, SHUT-UP?!” There was silence for a few moments after Jamie’s words, before-
“Ja-a-a-am-mie-e-e!”
“WHAT?! WHAT DO YOU WANT NOW?!” Jamie finally exploded, wheeling round to face his sister. The rest of the group sniggered, fully aware of what Lillian was doing.
“Can I have some of your water please?” She asked politely. Jamie thrust his water bottle at her with great annoyance, then spun round and began to march forward, stamping the ground with as much force as he could muster with each step.
“Ooooh! Stressy!” exclaimed Lillian, dragging out the word ‘stressy’ as much as she could “ a definite grin now on her face. Jamie held a strong silence, though his clenched fists gave away his irritation.
They continued to walk through the dry and barren rocks that stretched for miles around the mountains, the penetrating silence was only disrupted by Lillian’s tormenting of Jamie. The tall mountains loomed ahead of them, becoming larger and larger every minute. There were no birds and no plants. However, a strange fog seemed to gather in the odd craters that were dotted around.
“It’s like no-mans land,” shivered Rosaline to Sirius, who nodded, gazing into a nearby crater.
“What d’you suppose created these craters?” he asked her. She shook her head and shrugged.
“What was that!?” Everyone turned to look at Camilla, who was at the back of the group. She was looking to her left, with wide open eyes and a look of pure terror on her face.
“What was what?” asked Nicolas, hesitantly.
“I… just saw… I don’t know… it looked like a little… goblin thing… it was,” she sighed and laughed, “it was just my imagination, can I have some water, please?”
***
“Prongs!” James Potter’s hazel eyes flew open, and he sat up, shaking his sleeping wife awake as he did so. He watched as his best friend, Sirius Black came sprinting towards him, jumping over the many people also lying sleeping on the beach, an urgent look on his face.
“Word’s just got around, apparently another person has come through looking for Voldemort “ James; it’s worrying!”
“Calm down, Padfoot, what’s Tommy-boy going to do while he’s dead?” asked James lazily, gently lying down again.
“But-but…” spluttered Sirius, nonplussed, “don’t you think it’s strange, all these people coming through and looking specifically for him? None of these people seem confused when they get here “ as if they know what’s happening! The last people to come through were children! Seven of them. They were heading for the mountains. I heard it from Jack, who heard it from someone called Dorothy.” Lily bit her lip.
“Maybe he’s right; maybe we should go and check it out…”
“And do what? Sure, we can beat him up, like we did Pettigrew-” Sirius sniggered, “-but there is actually nothing we can do! We don’t have wands and we can’t Apparate! If the Death Eaters have made a little cult with Mr Megalomaniac as their almighty murderer, then fine, leave them to it!”
“Still… you know what Riddle’s like! He never gives up, he’s up to something. And seven children, James, just little children! They’ve been brainwashed, probably… can we just go and check it out?” Lily pleaded, her bright green eyes looking up at James. She knew full well that James couldn’t resist them. He looked like he was struggling to argue.
“Fine - but it won’t amount to anything! You’d best round up Dumbledore, he’ll want a say in this.”
***
The Seven trudged along in silence, Lily, having finally grown tired of winding her brother up. There was no noise; no birds singing, no rustling of leaves, no human voices. Just the sound of their own heavy footsteps, their feet growing tired from walking hours on end. The mountains loomed ahead of them, casting a dark shadow across the land. The children would have thought it was night, if it were not for the fiery orange sun behind them.
“Everyone, stop,” commanded Jamie suddenly, holding up a hand.
“Why?” began Sirius, but he was quickly quietened by Rosaline.
“I hear it too,” she breathed. Behind them, was a gentle thudding, going at a regular, quick beat. And a heavy panting… and an odd, gurgling sound…
They whipped round fearfully to see around twenty small dark shapes heading straight towards them. They screamed.
The creatures were small, about the size of a domestic cat and were a mottled green. They had thin, spindly limbs and sharp, pointed features. Their devilish faces were hideous; their eyes were white, as if they were actually rolled back in their heads, their mouths seemed too big for their heads and were cracked around the edges. But it was what was in their mouth’s that was truly terrifying. Four long, pointed fangs that were too big for their mouths, so when their mouth was closed, the fangs came out and rested on their face, two pointing up, two pointing down, like a sabre-tooth tiger. The rest of their teeth, although smaller, were also long and razor sharp. They had a snake’s tongue, twice the length that it ought to be, and it seemed to be on fire, or maybe, it was actually made up of the dancing red flames.
They wore nothing but a filthy rag around their hips and some carried jagged spears. Not that they were needed. On the end of their unnaturally long fingers were sharp claws, about ten centimetres in length and filthy dirty.
Once these creatures knew that the children had seen them, they forgot about their silent attack and cried out a horrendous, cackling cry, along with the strange gurgling sound that they seemed to make whenever they breathed.
The creatures surrounded the group of huddled and frightened children, licking their cracked lips with their fiery tongues and still cackling. Jamie felt dread rise in his throat like vomit; they were going to attack.
The Third War by dumbledorefluertwins
Chapter Notes: Please review - I've got writers block so I need lot's of long, decent reviews to encourage me!! Tell me what you think of the Crackacks! I think they're a bit like Orcs, but there you go...
~Evie