The Dungeon of Her Nightmare ((Kennedy))

[Fiona O'Reilly S5]

"This place is familiar to me, almost like I've been here many times before. But I don't know where I am. A cellar of some sort or maybe it's a dungeon in our castle. What am I doing here?" I turn around at the sound of footsteps. They had appeared out of no where for there was no door in or out of this dungeon. Standing before me is a familiar face, deathly pale, almost as if they were transparent. "Ma?" I ask. I know it's her, but it can't be she died almost 6 months ago. Da was still alive, but Ma wasn't supposed to be. She had killed the man in Da's body. The icy voice hits my ears like finger nails on a chalkboard, "To follow your father means death, but following your enemy means life. The Dark Lord shall not win, my darling. Follow your true path...the path of righteousness..." the voice of my Ma drawled on. Before she finished though a green light appeared and she was destroyed. I looked down at my hand, my wand was the culprit. I had just killed her...

Fiona awoke with a start. Not again! This was the fourth time she had had the same dream in the same week. It was getting more and more persistent each time. She wiped the sweat from her brow and jumped out of bed again. She wasn't going to be able to sleep at all the rest of this school year if this dream continued. Every night she would go to be hoping that she would not have the same dream and every night she would wake up at the same time, just slightly past midnight, from the same nightmare. When will it end? Fiona sighed as she threw on the clothes that were already sitting on her trunk ready to go. She had laid them out just in case she was to get up in the middle of the night once again. This night she wouldn't be heading out to the grounds. She had almost been caught last night when she had done that. Tonight she would just walk around the corridors. It was something she would enjoy.

Fiona petted her sleeping cat who was too annoyed to get up to see where she was going and then headed out of the dormitory. She crept through the common room and silently through the secret door leading to the Slytherin dormitory and common room. Outside the common room the dungeon corridors looked the same as always: dark, dingy, and moist. Fiona pulled out her wand and whispered, "Lumos." The wand gave a faint yellowish green light. It enveloped a few feet around Fiona causing everything to become pitch black beyond the light's reach. Fiona turned down the first corridor and started exploring the dungeon corridors. She hadn't been down some of these passage ways, not even in her first year, when she would purposely sneak out just to explore them. She took her normal turns until she came to a split in her path. She had always gone right, never left. It was here that her decision to go left was made. She smiled to herself. She would be finding new things down this corridor. Of course she didn't realize then that she would find the one thing she didn't want to find.

Fiona stepped lightly through the darkened pathway. She noticed the outlines of paintings on the wall, but the paintings were all ruined. It looked like they had bled away from the canvas, but no remains of the color appeared anywhere around them. She felt uneasy in the passageway and she could feel the dark eyes of something upon her. She shook the feeling off. She was just frightening herself, because she had never been down this way before. It wasn't long that she came to a bunch of rubble piled high to the ceiling. There was no way she would be able to get past it. She sighed. It seemed her adventure had come to an end. She turned around and felt her foot hit thin air. Then the ground beneath her other foot disappeared. Soon she was falling. She screamed out, but her voice was lost. There was only the echo that continued down through the empty corridor. She knew that no one could help her now. Her wand dropped from her hand and darkness descended.

Fiona opened her eyes. She looked around, but she could not make anything out. The darkness was too complete for her to see. She moved her hand looking for her wand, but stopped when she felt a pain shoot through her arm to her shoulder. Moving her other arm, which was less painful she reached out into the darkness looking for her wand. She felt the wooden stick and sighed in relief. However, as she brought the familiar wood up to her face she realized that half of it was missing, her wand was broken. She felt the tear run down her cheek as she threw the wood to the side of her causing a pain in her body. She reached over to her left arm. She could feel the bone protruding from her flesh and the warmth of blood. "Compound fracture, great. I'm going to die here. No one even knows where I am," she cried to herself. She moved her hand down her torso, but nothing seemed to be badly damaged, from what she could tell. Here she started to move her right foot, knee, and hip. They were all fine, but she new her left was what was damaged badly. She could hardly move her left foot and when she did the pain was incredible. She cried out from it.

"HELP!" Fiona screamed at the top of her lungs. The sound bounced around the room and Fiona wondered if anyone would hear her futile screams for help.

[Kennedy Valak S6]

Mortified, Kennedy watches as they surrounded him, fits of laughter emerging from their mouths. All of them had their arms extended, pointing straight at him. He stood there, frozen in place as a chill raced up his spine. Looking down at himself, Kennedy realized he was wearing nothing but a pair of boxer-shorts. Looking back up, the faces of classmates surrounded him, coming closer and closer until...

"Huh?" Kennedy said aloud. Lifting his head, Kennedy looked around and thought to himself, where am I? Realization then set in, as he noticed the curtain around him, and he stood up. He had been in the student lounge, in his usual hiding spot where he stayed to get away from people. The window in the far corner had a large curtain that was the perfect place to hide behind. Unfortunately for Kennedy, he had fallen asleep and lost track of time. Looking down at his watch, he noticed that it was just past midnight.

Gathering his books, Kennedy peeked his head from behind the curtain to make sure that nobody was around. Last time Filch caught him, he had to scrub toilets for a week! The coast was clear, and he crept quietly to the exit, and into the corridors.

Staying close to the wall, Kennedy tried to remain out of the light that the torches cast. Often, he would check over his shoulder to be sure he wasn't being followed. The shadows that the flames cast would dance on the floor, making him wary of every movement. When he was nearing the dungeon entrance, he heard a faint noise. Curious, he stopped and listened closer. Again, he heard what sounded like an echo of a scream. It was faint, and he was unable to understand what it was. His curiosity getting the best of him, Kennedy followed the direction of the sound. Getting louder with each step, it almost sounded like it was a call for help.

Walking a little faster, Kennedy made a sharp left turn and heard the voice clearly now. His wand in front of him, lighting his way, he stopped as the path ended abruptly. Looking down, Kennedy saw only darkness. "Hello?" he said softly.

[Fiona O'Reilly S5]

Fiona felt the tears slide down her cheeks. She knew no one was going to find her. She was going to die in this dark dungeon. She had no idea where she was and with that in mind, would anyone know where to find her? The cold floor brought shivers to her body. She wondered how far she had fallen, it must have been far due to the state of her arm and leg. Fiona's eyes began to adjust to the darkness. It wasn't enough to tell her what was down there exactly, but she could tell that there were no other entrances or exits to this place other than the way she had come in.

Realization dawned on Fiona at the sight of this place. "Oh my..." Fiona sighed as she looked around the darkened room. She had been there before. It had been in her dreams. The place where her mother appeared and spoke to her and then ending with Fiona killing her mother. This was the place. Had she been given this dream to show her that death was on it's way? Was she going to die down here? Was she going to bleed to death and forever haunt the halls of Hogwarts? "This can't be it! I can't go out like this. I'm only 15 years old, so much left to do. So much left to live for. Oh please Ma, I'd do anything, just don't let this be the..." the last word cut off as Fiona heard a sound like someone's voice. She looked up from the way she had come. She could make out a faint light above her.

"Help!" Fiona cried out again. She wondered if her eyes were just playing tricks on her, but she had to know for sure. She needed to know if what she had heard and seen had been the answer to a silent prayer or if she truly was doomed. Fiona waited for the echo to subside and then she strained her ears and her eyes waiting for any sign of hope. If she was to be saved what would she do then? Would she turn from her path of darkness? Or would she follow her father like she had always planned on doing? Either way it seemed that Fiona would have to weigh out the options and figure out which path was right for her, the narrow one, or the wide one.

[Kennedy Valak S6]

This time, Kennedy was sure that he was not hearing things. It was definitely someone's voice coming from the pit of darkness. The voice even had a familiar sound to it, as if it belonged to someone he knew. Shaking it off, he begin to think quickly, wondering what he should do. He had never seen this place before, and it was so dark that he wasn't sure if there was an entrance to the pit or if it simply fell into a giant hole. Getting up, he walked around the edge, careful not to fall in. There had to be some sort of steps somewhere.

His wand close to the ground, Kennedy spotted what he thought looked like a step at the lip of the pit. His eyes were still adjusting to the light, so he leaned closer to take a better look. Sure enough, there was a very narrow set of steps that wrapped their way down the hole. Without wasting much time, Kennedy began descending down into the darkness.

After about a minute of walking, he still had yet to see anything. All at once, he went to take another step, but realized there were no more steps when his foot hit the ground abruptly. Looking down, he was able to see that the pit still went farther even though there were no more steps. Leaning back to take a rest, he felt something hard against his back. He turned and saw that he was standing in front of an old door. Rattling the handle, he found that it was locked, and decided that it wasn't his main concern at the moment anyways. He needed to find whoever was at the bottom of that pit.

Thinking of what to do next, Kennedy knelt down and felt the ground. Finding a small pebble, he dropped it over the edge and instantly heard a small plop! The sound that the pebble made sounded like there was water at the bottom of the pit, and also the bottom must have been close because it didn't take long for the rock to reach it. Without hesitating, he decided to jump, bracing himself for the worst. Just as he predicted, he quickly landed in the water which was not as deep as he had thought. It came up to his knees, as he stood. The jump was a little farther than he expected, and when he landed, his one leg buckled under his weight, but it was only hurt minimally and he was still able to walk on it. He was used to walking with a limp anyways because of his condition of having one leg shorter than the other.

His wand still in his hand, Kennedy walked through the water as it began to get more shallow. Reaching dry ground, he looked around, squinting to see in the darkness. Noticing the silhouette of what appeared to be a person, he approached quickly and pointed the wand in the direction. "Fiona?!" he exclaimed, his mouth dropping at the sight of a fellow Slytherin. "What in the world are you doing down here?"

[Fiona O'Reilly S5]

Fiona listened intently for any response from the figure she thought she had seen, but there was nothing. She sighed and a few more tears found their way down her face to the dirty ground beneath her. She was going to die here. Her arm was in serious trouble and with the amount of blood she was probably losing she knew that it would only be a matter of hours before she slipped into the darkness forever. She blinked and more tears cascaded down her face. I don't want to die here... Fiona thought to herself, but she knew that it was of no use. She couldn't stand; she couldn't even move due to the pain in her body. She had no idea how she had even fallen through the ground. All she knew was that this was the dungeon from her nightmare and this was where she was going to die.

A small rustling sound detracted Fiona from her thoughts of death. She squinted into the darkness. Even though her eyes had fully adjusted now she still could hardly make anything out but a dark figure, with a small light. The silhouette created made the figure look disfigured and dark. She took a deep breath. Was this what dying really was? Was there no light at the end of the tunnel like people said? Was it really the dark figure named Death that came for you and took you away? She found that her breathing quickened at the movement the figure seemed to be making. She lost it several times in the darkness, but then she heard a distinct sound of something hitting water. She felt the tears come harder though she refused to make any sound. Maybe it would go away. If she didn't move or breath or make a sound, maybe it would go away. She closed her eyes tightly and tried not to move.

It was here that her dream forced it's way back into reality. She looked hard into her own eyelids and she could see the light. The color was the same as the one from her dream. She opened her eyes and squinted. There she saw her. "Ma," she whispered. The sight of the light made her cry out. "NO!" she screamed. She didn't want to kill her ma. She didn't want to kill anyone. Her ma was coming back for her and she was going to tell her the truth about things. But Fiona wouldn't let her do it, because she had foreseen it. She would kill her ma to keep her from speaking. Fiona shook her head, the only movement she could do without causing a severe pain. The icy voice hit her ears again just like the finger nails on a chalkboard. To follow your father means death, but following your enemy means life. The Dark Lord shall not win, my darling. Follow your true path...the path... "NO!" Fiona cried out again. She screamed at the voice in her head and closed her eyes tight against the light. She wasn't going to do it.

Fiona's cries died down when she heard her name. This time it didn't sound like the icy voice of her dead mother. Fiona listened again as the voice spoke again. It was right next to her this time. It was asking her how she got down there. A few minutes went by, at least Fiona thought they did. She opened her eyes again and saw the familiar face of Kennedy. The light came from his wand. She opened her mouth slightly and realized she had just been hallucinating. She must have hit her head. Unless Kennedy had seen her too, but he didn't look like he had. Fiona felt the tears on her face. She knew that she was saved. "Oh Kennedy!" Fiona exclaimed through the tears and pain. She tried to move, but the pain kept her still. "I fell. I don't know how badly hurt I am. I think my bone is protruding from left arm, because if it's not then I have no idea what is protruding from my arm then. I can't move. I thought I was going to die," Fiona said and fell silent at that. She couldn't believe someone had found her. She wasn't expecting this at all and now that it had happened she wanted to cry out in joy.

[Kennedy Valak S6]

Fiona screamed, as Kennedy neared. Something wasn't right. Eventually, she realized who he was, and seemed very relieved that he had found her. She mentioned something about her arm, so Kennedy took a closer look. Sure enough, there was bone pushed through the flesh of her arm. It looked painful just seeing it. Luckily, Kennedy had had some experience with a basic bandaging spell. "Ferula," he said, tapping the wound gently with his wand. Instantly, the bone was covered, and there was a bandage wrapped around Fiona's arm. "You are still going to have to make a visit to the hospital wing," he told Fiona, "but at least that should stop the bleeding for now."

"There are steps about 10 feet above us," Kennedy explained. "We have to get you up to them somehow so that you can get out of this dungeon and get some medical help. The only problem is, how are we going to both get up to the steps. Can you walk?" he asked.

Just then, a cold wind raced through the dungeon, and Kennedy's eyes turned a fiery red. "To follow your father means death, but following your enemy means life." The words escaped his lips in a song-like voice. Again, he repeated the words twice more, "To follow your father means death, but following your enemy means life. To follow your father means death, but following your enemy means life." Within moments of finishing his words, Kennedy snapped back to normal.

"Fiona, what's wrong," he asked calmly. "I asked you if you could walk. It would make it a lot easier if I didn't have to carry you."

[Fiona O'Reilly S5]

Fiona winced at the slight pain as she felt Kennedy's wand touch her arm. The quick spell didn't help with the pain, but at least she knew the bleeding had stopped. Fiona didn't move her arm though just to be sure that she didn't mess it up anymore. Kennedy told her that should stop the bleeding. She nodded in response having already come to that conclusion herself. "Thanks, I would have done something myself, but my wand is broken and is around here somewhere. It broke during the fall," Fiona said softly. She was afraid to talk in a full voice now. It seemed even more isolated in the cave even with Kennedy within inches of her. She still didn't feel safe and she didn't know if she ever would again. Her attention fell back on Kennedy as she listened to him ask her if she could walk and then she sighed sadly. She knew she couldn't walk. Her leg was messed up, she didn't know how badly, but she knew she couldn't walk, moving it was hard enough without cursing in pain. If she tried to stand she would probably end up worse.

Fiona looked up at Kennedy about to answer when a cloud wind swished through the dungeon and she saw Kennedy's eyes turn red. Fiona heard the sing song voice and within seconds she screamed and pushed herself back from Kennedy with all her might. She heard more snapping, but didn't care what part of her body was making them. She couldn't be near him not like that. She felt her back hit the cold icy stone behind her as the voice died out. Her breathing was raspy and quick. She had her eyes tightly closed. She had one hand wrapped over her head trying to block out the voice. Her left leg lay limp next to her in ways it shouldn't be. She was sweating profusely and she felt a wave of nausea come over her.

Fiona heard Kennedy's voice this time. Not the voice that had just spoken, but his voice. She looked at him, but did not hear him. Turning away from him she quickly got sick. She didn't care about embarrassment right now. She was in pain and she had just watched Kennedy become something different. She looked back at him a few moments later and watched him carefully. Tears were cascading down her face clearly, but that was the only sign of her emotions now. She didn't know if Kennedy had pretended to be possessed by that voice or if he really had been. She didn't know anything anymore, but she knew that she had to get out of this place. She remembered Kennedy's question earlier and knew she should answer.

"I can't walk, look at me leg," Fiona whispered. In the light Fiona could finally see what had happened. It was definitely easy to tell she had landed on her leg first. Her leg had been fractured in three different places, one taking place at the ankle bending it awkwardly to the left, the second at the mid calf region creating half the leg to go to the right, and then a noticeable fracture in her thigh branching off to the right. It was an awful site to see. Almost as if she had no bones at all in her leg, but they were there, just fractured in several places. Most of her left side of the body was swollen and already bruising. Her right was bruised and sore, but nothing terribly bad had taken place. At the sight of her leg Fiona cringed and to take her mind off it she looked back at Kennedy. "Where did you learn that phrase?" she asked. Her voice was soft and weak. She needed to get out of there.

[Kennedy Valak S6]

As he expected, Fiona's leg was too greatly injured for her to be able to walk on her own. Kennedy to try to levitate her to the platform above where the stair started, but then he had no way of getting out of the pit himself. With Fiona unable to walk, it would do neither of them any good if she was alone on the platform while he was stuck in the pit. Just then, Fiona asked Kennedy where he had learned the phrase. "Oh, you mean Ferula?" he questioned, repeating the spell that he had used to heal her wound. Wondering why she really cared about something like that at a time like this, Kennedy answered, "We learned that in Charms. I believe you were there for that class."

Thinking back to the problem at hand, Kennedy had an idea. "There is no way that you or I can get up to the platform above us without help. I figure if I give you my wand, you can levitate me first. Then once I am up on the platform, you will have to throw the wand to me, and I will then levitate you. That way, if you are unable to do it, or if the wand doesn't make it to me, I will either be down here with you, or up there where I can go get something to help us." The idea wasn't perfect, but it was the best Kennedy could come up with.

Glancing around in the dim cave, Kennedy squinted and tried to adjust his eyes. They were surrounded by stone walls on all sides, and they were flat, which made it impossible to climb them. Fiona would just have to gather her strength and try to cast the spell. It was their only hope.

[Fiona O'Reilly S5]

Fiona shook her head hard at Kennedy's answer. "No, not Ferula! What you said after that! You said something about my da? Do you know what you said? Why did you say it?" Fiona pleaded. She needed to know why he had said that. Did he know something about what was going on? Was he somehow involved in this situation? Did he just happen to find her or did he know she was down her? Did he somehow lead her here? Fiona shook her head at her thoughts. No, Kennedy would never have done anything of the sort. He was her friend. She could trust him, but then again could she really trust anyone? She looked back at him and eyed him carefully. She didn't want to seem like she didn't trust him at the moment, but she didn't. She didn't trust anyone anymore. Everyone seemed to be against her and if this dungeon was part of her nightmarish life. Maybe then all of her friends were also part of that nightmare and they really weren't her friends at all.

Fiona shouted out in her own head against the thoughts that were plaguing her. They were important questions to reflect upon, but right now they were the least of her worries. She needed to get out of that dungeon and so far Kennedy had the only idea, though it wasn't the best. She would try to levitate him out, but with her wand arm broken it would be difficult for her to do the wand movements. She would have to do them in her right hand. She didn't know if it would work out the right way, but she had to try. He was her only hope now and she had to fight against the pain as she nodded her head. "I'll do it," she whispered in a voice that was hardly audible in the large dungeon. She didn't wait for Kennedy to hand her the wand. She reached out with her right hand and took the wand in her hand awkwardly. She looked at him cautiously before she pointed the wand at him.

"Wingardium Leviosa," she said. The wand didn't do anything. She sighed as she realized she had done the movements the opposite way. She half smiled. "A bit more difficult with the wrong hand. Wingardium Leviosa." This time the spell took effect and she fought against the pain as she raised Kennedy up to the platform above her. She had broken out in a cold sweat and she could fill the muscles in her body crying out in pain, burning every portion of her insides. It wouldn't be long before she ended up passing out from the pain. She had to keep going though or Kennedy would end up just falling back down to the ground. Fiona fought hard and thought hard. She knew she had to get him out of there. It was her only hope for life. With one last push of her mind and body she knew he had made it. She felt the room spin and turn darker. She knew it was her only chance to get out. She looked up to Kennedy and threw his wand up as far as she could. She didn't know if he caught it. She didn't even know if she had thrown it in the right direction. For the blackness had overtaken her and she passed out into a dreamless sleep.

((Hey, kind of just wanted to get through this last post. I figured I'd just take the wand from you so we could get on with the post. I don't know if Fiona will wake back up, so you can either post and we'll see, or I plan on making a post in the Hospital Wing, so it's up to you. ;D))