Should I Stay or Should I Go by The Clash
Chapter Four: Should I Stay or Should I Go by The Clash
Aemilia was in the common room drafting the synopsis of her paper all while simultaneously working to finish her multitude of other homework, and failing miserably to concentrate.
Her brain was about fried. Groaning, she sat back staring at the dim ceiling. Other than the occasional pop from the dying fireplace, it was quiet in the common room. She had said goodnight to Drusilla an hour or maybe two ago and no one remained. Gathering her things and putting them in her bag, she leaned back in her chair, stretching. Trying hard to not think about all the work she had yet to finish and her meeting tomorrow with Percy. Music played softly in her headphones,
In My Head by Bedroom.
She closed her eyes, She wanted to sneak off and take another bath. She hadn’t dared to go since, opting for showers at her dorm, but if there was any time to need a good soak it was now. It wasn’t too late yet, she still had another 45 or so minutes until seventh years were expected in bed. She hurriedly grabbed her things messily forcing them in her bottomless canvas bag. She entered her dorm, quickly grabbed her robe, pajamas, and various other toiletries and stuffed them into her bag. Her cat mewed annoyed at the sudden intrusion from his bed. She stroked him softly on his head as he nestled in purring.
She was making her way up to the usual decrepit corridor when she heard something, it was faint, and at first she wrote it off as some rats squeaking, but then she heard it again bouncing eerily off the large arched ceilings; it sounded very faint and farther away. People?
she couldn’t make out what they were saying but it was definitely people. She stopped, ears straining for noise. The torches popped and something scurried nearby. She wondered who would be in the dungeons at this hour? Curious, she ambled slowly towards the noise as it bounced against the walls again. It took her to a separate hallway she’d never seen used. It was far dingier than the other corridors and no torches illuminated this section. There half hidden behind a statue of a serpent a passageway yawed. She knew of most hidden passageways but couldn’t remember ever seeing this one. She slipped past the statue.
The torches were few and far between here. Listening hard for the noise she crept along the passage, foot falls crunching on the misused floor. Spiderwebs and crushed stone littered the fringes of the walkway.
The noise would start, then be silent for a while. She still couldn’t make out the voices as they reverberated and echoed faintly off the slimy cobblestone walls, but was sure they were human. The passage twisted to the left and she continued on. Shadows danced on the walls, rats squeaked and scuttled in her corner of her vision. knuckles white and clammy against her wand, breathing shallow and uneven, She wondered how much longer until fear replaced her curiosity completely.
Finally, she thought she reached the door. She was sure it was coming from here.
She heard a noise, louder now, inside the room beyond. As quickly as it came it would fade. She put her ear to the door waiting for a noise or straining to hear something inside. Now it was eerily quiet, she heard the blood pulsing through her body and her heart beating rapidly in tempo. Thump, Thump, Thump like a bass drum. She wrapped her hand around the door handle trying to pull it open just a crack. It fought clinging to its ancient frame. She tugged again harder and it finally surrendered with a sighed creak.
She froze, another noise, and definitely from the room, it was human.
She carefully pulled the door again, as noiselessly as possible, her heart was now deafening as she carefully peaked through the slit.
It took a moment for her eyes to adjust, there seemed to be only the illumination of one candle inside. It looked like storage. She saw desks and chairs and various furniture covered in white cloth. Her eyes slowly adjusted, and fell on the only thing like movement in the room.
Off to the side near one of the tables she saw two figures, barely discernible by the weak candlelight. Pulling the door a little wider, struggling to see, she heard-
“Percy.” a voice moaned from the table.
Aemilia’s blood froze in her veins, and she gasped despite herself, throwing her hand over her mouth instinctively. A familiar cold stone had dropped into her stomach. Slowly the cogs turned but still she struggled to make sense of it. Her wand fell from her hand with a soft hollow echoing clank on the stone floor as she reflexively jumped back from the door. It rang out, penetrating the deathly quiet of the dark passage. The silence that followed was deafening; both bodies tensed.
“What was that?” a female voice whispered.
Aemilia gave a start jumping back again into the safety of the shadows beyond the doors reach, heart nearly falling out of her chest. A tall figure whipped his head toward the door.
She scrambled fingernails digging into the cold, dirty stone as she grabbed her wand frantically. She fled as fast as she could down the corridor, throwing herself past the statue and running full tilt towards her common room. Breathing ragged she hurried as quickly as she could down the last flight of stairs, safety within arms reach. In her haste she missed the last step, falling hard onto the rough stone. Scrambling to her feet she continued to flee. A password later she was safely inside the dimly lit Slytherin common room.
The fire was embers in the grate and the only noise was her gasping breaths. She didn't move, struggling to manage her breathing, clammy head firmly to the cold stone wall behind her. She had just seen Percy in that room, she was sure of it. It was dim but for that split second she was sure it was him, and she had heard that girl say his name- Moan his name.
She walked slowly to her dorm, shaking slightly. The adrenaline was wearing off, her hands were scuffed and raw.
She peeled off her uniform mechanically. Gasping as her ripped tights pulled against the raw flesh of her skinned knee. small Crimson dots ran down her flesh onto her feet. Her hands trembled and shook as she tried to gingerly touch the broken skin. She was so anxious to get back she hadn’t even felt it. Now it throbbed incessantly. She winced, breathing hard.
looking through her bottomless school bag for her potions satchel, she wasted no time finding Murtlap essence. Face twisted in pain she dabbed it softly as she could with trembling hands onto her hands and knee. Almost instantly it cut through the sting, lessening the pain almost completely. She cleaned it slowly, Finishing with gauze and a bandage, leaning back taking a deep breath out.
Her headphones had fallen off and dangled loosely off her neck still playing softly. She breathed a sigh of relief she hadn’t lost them in her escape. She took her phone out,
Pleaser by The Wallows was playing.
She turned it off and placed her phone on her nightstand. She started to relax slowly, shoulders falling and her head leaning back to hit her headboard where she sat, her mind however was still working furiously.
Had he seen her?
It was very dim in the corridor. It was a blur, but she chanced a glance back as she slipped through the corridor entrance and she had neither seen nor heard anyone following her. She got into bed still thinking about what she had seen. A familiar warmth rushed to her face.
It had to have been him, although it was impossible to tell through the dim light, she had definitely heard his name. And she was sure he had been doing something that he shouldn’t have. She played it over in her head again, trying to recollect the details that swam in her brain just out of reach. It was like trying to collect fog. She saw it in her mind's eye hazily; Him bent over the table, that girl. The heavy breathing, the moans, the way she had said his name.
Percy.
Aemilia shook it from her mind, eyes squeezed tight against the image and the warm feelings that followed.
What if he’d noticed her? Recognized her? Watching them through the crack in the door like a pervert. What was he even doing down here? And Percy of all people in a storage room in the dungeons between some girls legs. She shook her head again, deciding to pretend she had seen nothing. She would tell no one, not even Drusilla, it didn't happen. Pushing the image from her mind, more than once. Fighting the warm knot that has twisted her insides she started to finally fall asleep, knee and hands throbbing slightly.