The air was uncharacteristically cold, even for late October. A flurry of snow was working its way down over the top of Greengrass Manor and despite the warming charms on the old house and the blazing fireplace in their room the cold persisted, chilling their bones.
Harry stood from his and Daphne's bed and whispered, “I'm going to see if I can't find some more blankets” and Daphne nodded her agreement, burrowing herself further under the duvet, and attempting to rub some heat into her cold extremities.
Harry wandered out towards a closet when a flash caught his eye through the window. It looked like a person. Harry feared that someone might be caught out in the cold and quickly opened the front door, running to where he had seen the movement, but when he got there no one was there. Stranger still no tracks or footprints could be seen in the snow.
Harry felt a chill run down his back, like someone was watching him and turned quickly, but when he looked, he saw only darkness. Unsure what to make of this Harry reentered the manor, intent on going out the back door and checking to see if whatever it was had made its way into the garden.
When he entered, he saw Daphne standing at the entrance, wearing an expression Harry had never seen before. She looked up at him, her blue eyes cold and unseeing. "Don't go out back." She told him simply and Harry looked at her, shocked, unsure how she knew of his plan.
"Daph?" He asked walking towards her. Daphne stood completely still and only when Harry was a foot in front of her did she snap her head up to look at him. Harry once again felt the chill run down his back, but this time it was like the feeling when a curse was about to strike him from behind… or a knife.
He glanced over his shoulder and saw Dorothea Greengrass, Daphne's grandmother, standing near the front door he had just closed. He hadn't heard her walk in. "Don't go outside." She said in the same monotone voice Daphne had used earlier.
Harry swallowed. "I won't." He told her and she nodded an unnatural smile on her face.
"Good. What's out there tonight will kill you. If you go outside you will die." She said and Harry reached for Daphne's hand. When he took hold of it, it was cold as ice.
He glanced towards his wife, and she looked at him with a smile that matched her grandmothers. Harry could smell her now as well. She no longer smelled of vanilla and grapefruit, like she typically did. Instead, she smelled of steel, blood, and smoke.
Before Harry could comment, the wind howled and in the flurry of snow it kicked up Harry could see the faint figure again out the window, bathed in only the dim light of the moon that escaped through the clouds. Daphne and Dorothea's heads both snapped towards the window in unison. They stared at the window for a beat too long and then turned towards Harry.
"Black magic is not too be played with." Daphne said calmly. "You must stay inside."
Harry made to let go of her cold hand, but she grasped it more tightly. Harry stepped away, wrenching his hand free of her grasp. "Daphne what the fuck are you talking about?"
"Come." Daphne's grandmother said and Daphne's eyes lingered on his for a second longer before she made her way to her grandmother's side.
"We must go now." His wife said, and then as one they turned and rounded the corner into the hall.
Harry's body was covered in goosepimples and that eery feeling returned, but he chased after them. "Wait!" He shouted but when he rounded the corner they were gone. Harry looked out the window once more and saw movement in the distance.
He listened intently and heard it then. The voice of a child carried by the howling wind. "Help! Please it's got me!" Harry was ready to sprint out the doors, but Dorothea's warning hung in his mind.
The voice grew more aggressive. "Help me! I said help me you fucking coward, goddamnit! Come here!" Harry felt the hair on his body rise and then a figure slammed into the window, dark and humanoid, but faceless.
The voice of the child was gone, and it shouted at him through the thin pane of glass, "COME HERE, COME BACK OUTSIDE."
Harry sprinted. He didn't care that it was cowardly or fearful. He sprinted as fast as his legs would carry him to his room and when he threw the door open Daphne was still snuggled into the bed.
"Harry? Did you get the blankets?" She asked.
"What the fuck was that?" He shouted panicking. "Were you and your grandmother pulling a prank because what the fuck was that?!"
"Harry, what are you talking about? Are you okay?" She stood from the bed and took his hand in hers. He flinched but it was warm. He pulled her close and she smelled of Daphne again. Vanilla and Citrus.
"Where were you two minutes ago?" Harry asked and Daphne looked at him, even more puzzledly.
"In here waiting for you?" She said and Harry ran a hand through his hair.
"You were downstairs. You and your grandmother told me not to step outside and then this figure… a voice." Harry felt moisture above his lip and touched it. When he pulled his fingers back, he saw blood.
"Speak no further of this." He heard Daphne say and when he glanced up, he saw another Daphne standing behind his wife. The torchlight and light of the fire flickered for a moment and then she was gone and only Daphne, his wife, remained.
"Harry what are you talking about?"
Harry swallowed. "Nothing. We need to stay indoors tonight. Promise me, you'll stay indoors. If you hear anything you tell me, yeah?"
Daphne nodded. "I promise."
"Good. Now let's get in bed. We leave first thing in the morning."
Daphne obliged and Harry pulled her close. He heard the voice calling angrily for help and knew that sleep would not find him tonight.