Amy pressed a hand against the frosty window. It was late November and one of the coldest winters in history. Many people had died. Amy could feel dark shadows prowling the street, they seemed to feed on death and despair… Amy shivered and huddled down as Denis came into the room buttoning up his coat.
“I’m going shopping,” he called, breaking in on her reverie.
Amy bolted upright. “You can’t!” she exclaimed. “Denis, it’s minus twenty degrees out there!”
Denis grinned. “Don’t you think you’re exaggerating just a little bit?”
Amy decided to throw caution to the winds. “You can’t go because there’s, well, there’s dark shadows that seem to suck the life out of people...I’m…I’m, well, I’m scared for you.”
Denis put his hand on her shoulder. “I’ll take my chances with the shadows; all we have to eat is apples and I need to go before it gets any darker. You relax and I’ll be back in ten minutes.”
Amy wiped the tears from her eyes.
“Promise?”
“Promise.” Denis kissed her on the cheek and left.
*~*
Amy lay back on the sofa and stared into the crackling fire. Something felt weird, almost like someone was watching her “ “Stop thinking like that,” she told herself “There’s nothing here that will hurt you.”
That was when someone spoke from outside.
“Morsmordre!”
The windows shattered and the door fell off its hinges. A hooded figure stepped through. Amy grabbed a candelabra for support.
Then the person threw back its hood and Amy screamed. It was a grotesque mutant; it had horrible pasty white skin with red, cat-like slits for eyes.
“W-w-who are you?” Amy asked holding the candelabra like a sword.
The mutant sneered at her, Amy knew she had never seen this person in her life before but he still seemed strangely familiar.
“I, stupid filth, am the all powerful “”
“Tom Riddle!” Amy exclaimed. It had been years since she had left the orphanage but she would have recognized that voice anywhere.
Tom’s features split into a wide smile.
“Well, well, well. Amy Benson. You’ve grown up.”
Amy clenched her fists. “Unfortunately so have you.”
Tom raised his eyebrows. “A wonderful retort Amy, you must write them down in a book.” He walked lazily around the living room, as if he did it every day, glancing at things, sometimes laughing.
Amy’s hand was clutching the candelabra so tightly now that it was about to snap. She remembered how he had used to do this in the orphanage. Walk around her room, sometimes taking things, eating her sweets and cutting the hair off of her dolls while she watched helplessly.
Tom bent down to whisper in her ear as he passed. “I can see you married that scum, Denis Bishop, why on earth would you want to marry him?”
“Speaking of scum,” Amy said, sounding a lot braver then she felt. “Get out of my house.”
Tom stopped moving but he didn’t say anything, so Amy went on.
“You think you scare me, don’t you. You may have frightened me when I was eight but that was a long time ago! I do not fear you anymore!”
And then she did something she had wanted to do ever since he had entered her house. She hurled the candelabra at him with all the strength she could gather.
It was a mistake.
He smiled hungrily. “Aww poor little Benson doesn’t fear Tom anymore, that’s a good thing, it means you’re not scared of death.”
Amy backed away nervously as Tom raised a wand (that was what it looked like, but Amy’s mind wasn’t functioning properly at that point).
“Avada Kedavra!” he shrieked.
Amy ran and tripped. All she could see was a flash of green light and hear the cold, high-pitched laughter of her nightmares.
And then she knew no more.
Tom turned on his heel and strode out of the house, deciding he would spend a few nights in the company of his followers before starting on a long journey home.
*~*
Denis Bishop grabbed a jar of pasta sauce and dropped it in his haste. He swore loudly and began to pick up the shards of glass. He wanted to get out of the supermarket as quickly as possible. He had hated having to leave Amy alone. He didn’t like the sound of life-sucking shadows either. Amy had a gift, that was for sure - she could feel people’s emotions, see things that he couldn’t, sense deaths in the neighbourhood.
Denis had to admit it was creepy.
He had reached for another jar of pasta sauce when a frantic-looking girl bumped into him.
He recognized eleven-year-old Connie from down the road.
“Mr Bishop! There’s been a…a…”
Denis grabbed her by the shoulders “A what? Is Amy ok?”
“We don’t know!” Connie wailed. “There was an…an…an explosion! A giant green explosion! And then “”
But Denis was already halfway down the road, still clutching the jar of pasta sauce.
*~*
Amy Benson woke suddenly but kept her eyes shut tight.
“You’re dead” said a voice inside her that sounded uncannily like Tom Riddle’s. “You’re dead, Amy Benson, you’re never going to see Denis or your friends or “”
Something furry brushed up beside her miaowing.
“Cleo?” Amy asked incredulously. She opened her eyes in astonishment and sat up carefully. Her nose was bleeding and her ankle appeared to be broken but she was in much better shape than she deserved to be.
The house hadn’t been so lucky. The windows were all shattered and the door had fallen onto the ground. Furniture was overturned and somehow the coffee table had been cracked down the middle.
A tall person came through the doorway and Amy shrieked.
But it wasn’t Tom Riddle; it was a tall good-looking man with black hair.
“Are you Amy Benson?” he asked.
Amy nodded.
“I’m...Regulus Black. And, well, I think this belongs to you.” He handed her a golden locket with a snake carved into it. It was one of the most beautiful things Amy had every seen, yet it also made her feel uneasy.
Regulus bent down to her. “I couldn’t open it, but maybe you might have more luck.”
“I’ll…I’ll try,” Amy said. She dug her fingernails into the groove and pulled. The locked creaked open and a mist emerged from it and started to coil around her, like a snake. The mist seemed to tighten, making it harder for her to breathe “
“I knew it!” Regulus muttered and then yelled something Amy couldn’t make out. The mist stopped wrapping around her and disappeared.
Amy took a few deep breaths and then collapsed, unconscious, for the second time that day.
From down the road a siren sounded.
Regulus hastily pushed the locket into Amy’s hand and ran out of the house, it was best that neither his master nor the police found out about this.
*~*
Amy opened her eyes. She realized that she was no longer on the living room floor, but instead in bed in a hospital.
“Amy! You’re ok!” Denis hugged her so tightly she thought her eyes might pop out.
“I guess so,” Amy gasped. “But I won’t be for long unless you stop hugging me so tightly!”
“Oh, right, sorry,” Denis muttered, loosening his grasp.
There was something heavy tugging at her neck. Amy put her hand up and felt the locket, it was still open. She closed it gently and then remembered something.
Amy punched Denis on his arm.
“Ow!” Denis cried out. “What on earth did you do that for?” he demanded rubbing his shoulder.
“For making me wait the longest ten minutes in living history.”
Denis stared at his shoes. “I “ what I mean to say is…sorry,” he mumbled.
Amy grinned and kissed him. “I love you.”
Denis smiled sideways at her. “Promise?”
“Promise.”
Maybe things weren’t going to be so bad after all.
The Cave by Ellie4Harry
Chapter Notes: I am so so so so so (you should skip ahead to the chapter this will take a while!) so so so so soooooooo sorry for this incredibly long wait! I dedicate this chapter to my wonderful reviewers :), the people who invented teachr training days so people could write fan fics and all my friends!