The Beginning of the Revenge - Part 4
The moment Umbridge stepped through the door to follow Luna and Astoria, it slammed shut behind her.
BAM.
Umbridge immediately spun around with her wand at the ready and then let out a "What...?!" when she saw where the door had been before.
Or rather, where the door had been, there was now only an old stone wall, as if the door had never existed.
Umbridge quickly approached and ran a hand over it, feeling along the wall and trying to find some kind of concealment spell.
"What kind of...?"
"It's better to keep walking carefully," Luna said calmly, interrupting the inspector's confusion.
"No, it'd be better to hurry before He comes back," Astoria added.
Umbridge gritted her teeth and stopped looking at the wall, once again feeling annoyed by the behavior of these two brats.
"You're both getting months of detention when we get out of here," she muttered to herself, already thinking about how she would get back at these brats regardless of who their parents were.
The two seemed not to hear her words and simply started walking.
Umbridge remained there for a few seconds, staring at the girls' backs and letting them get a little distance ahead before finally clutching her bag against her body and following them.
The new corridor was even narrower than the previous ones. The torches were separated by several meters, leaving long stretches of darkness between one and the next, and just like the previous corridor, everything looked very old. There was even dark mold growing along the walls, and reddish stains could be seen on the floor, although Umbridge preferred not to investigate why they were that color for now. Instead, she took a deep breath and continued walking after swallowing.
Umbridge walked behind Luna and Astoria with her wand raised.
Every few steps, she looked behind her in case something appeared following them. Luckily, there didn't seem to be anything stalking them. Maybe the fact that the door had disappeared had actually helped.
"How much farther?" she asked after several minutes of walking through the same corridor, feeling like it was almost endless and noticing no change at all. Her exhaustion was starting to show in her breathing as she tried to keep up with the two girls.
Neither of them answered and simply continued walking without changing their pace.
Or rather, even after several minutes of walking, they didn't seem tired at all, and their speed was slowly beginning to increase.
Every so often, Umbridge had to quicken her pace to catch up with them, which only exhausted her even more.
"I'm asking you something," Umbridge said as she tried to control her breathing, but she still received no answer, which only annoyed her even more.
Astoria and Luna suddenly stopped.
And slowly began turning their heads.
Umbridge, behind them, stopped as well and watched them with a frown, but seeing the way they suddenly turned toward her so slowly, a strange chill ran down her spine.
Then, when both of them finished turning their heads, Umbridge's eyes widened in panic.
On both girls' faces were smiles so wide they almost seemed to take up half of their faces.
A horrifying expression.
"Inspector, didn't your parents ever teach you not to follow strangers?" the two girls said at the same time, while their voices seemed to sound strange, even echoing all around the corridor.
"What...? What? Who...? You... don't joke around," Umbridge said, taking a step back at the sight of the terrifying expressions on both girls' faces.
Then, suddenly, the smiles that seemed like they couldn't possibly grow any wider became even bigger, while for a moment their teeth seemed to turn strange and sharp.
But Umbridge couldn't see them for long because, suddenly, the torch above them that barely illuminated them went out with a strange gust of wind, leaving them in darkness.
And not only that.
The next torches around them went out almost immediately at the same time as two shadows shot toward Umbridge in the last glimpse of light she could see.
This filled her with panic and, with her wand already prepared, she violently twisted her wrist and shouted:
"Lumos Maxima!"
The light traveled down the corridor directly toward where Luna and Astoria had been standing before.
But now there was nothing there.
Not only that, there was nothing and no one around Umbridge, making her spin around looking everywhere, trying to find where those girls had gone.
Umbridge, breathing fearfully, kept her wand raised.
"L-L-Lovegood? Greengrass?" she asked.
But nothing and no one answered.
Umbridge began breathing faster as she realized that the girls she'd been following might not even have been who she thought they were.
"This isn't funny!" she shouted. Her voice traveled through the corridors with anger, but also while trying to contain her fear.
Then another voice answered from somewhere in the darkness.
"Now... you should run."
And at the same time, a familiar sound began coming from behind her.
Grrrrrrrr...
Umbridge slowly began to turn around while her hand trembled, holding her only source of light.
The light from her wand illuminated the floor first.
Then the wall.
But there was nothing and no one there.
That made Umbridge almost relax and let out her breath all at once, but it was too soon.
Then something scratched against the stone right above her head.
SCRRRRCH.
Umbridge raised her eyes.
"AAAAAAAAAH!"
She ran.
Behind her, something dropped heavily onto the floor.
THUMP.
And began chasing her.
THUMP.
THUMP.
THUMP.
Umbridge ran with all her strength. Running through the darkness with only Lumos to guide her, she reached a crossing of corridors and turned without hesitation.
She rushed through an intersection without even looking where it led. The only thing she could see was that the entire corridor was decorated with dozens of old suits of armor, some so worn that they were lying on the floor in several places, while others were missing an arm or a head.
But that thing was still behind her.
Every impact was getting closer.
Umbridge, feeling herself in danger, ran behind one of the suits of armor.
"Nox!"
The light from her wand went out, and she squeezed herself into the darkness behind the armor, even closing her eyes while her body trembled violently, trying to hold back even her breathing so she wouldn't be discovered.
Meanwhile, that thing came even closer.
The darkness didn't allow her to see absolutely anything, making Umbridge's fear grow even more.
When she heard that thing had reached somewhere near her, she tried to suppress even the trembling of her body out of fear of being discovered.
Then she heard those hurried footsteps stop right near her.
And at the same time, she heard the sound of something sniffing the air.
Closer and closer to where she was hiding.
Umbridge couldn't take the fear anymore and even began praying to every god she knew as she listened to the breathing of something enormous standing right in front of the armor.
Then a rotten smell reached her.
Like the smell of a decomposing corpse.
The breath that creature let out struck the armor, making it vibrate slightly, while the smell grew even stronger around Umbridge, who had to hold back the urge to vomit.
Umbridge slightly opened her eyes, trying to see something in the darkness.
But the only thing she could make out was a darkness even deeper than the darkness surrounding her.
Then, suddenly, she heard the sound of the floor being scraped again, and the creature began running once more, moving away at great speed.
But Umbridge still didn't move.
She remained in the darkness, holding her breath.
When several seconds passed without her hearing anything else, Umbridge finally let out a choked sound and began breathing heavily.
"What...? What is that thing?" she asked herself, filled with terror while her body wouldn't stop trembling.