Into the Unknown Darkness
Prologue ♾ Setting Off[font=Times New Romans]Date: July 26th, 2020
Time: Early in the morning
Location: Kensington, London, England
Place: Serendipity Garden[/font]All was well back at Serendipity Garden. Though she had left her sweet home for a whole school year plus twenty days at the camp, it was not much changed. The fine, well decorated three-floor mansion was still as shiny as when she left in September.
Her mother Carolyn dragged her out of her bed early this morning, which was rather a disaster. Sending her brother Edmund and herself to Sheffield to stay with their maternal grandparents, aunt, and cousin seemed the dumbest and dullest to Lindsey. She never liked the Linfield Manor. Dull, it was, and definitely not fun. Especially, she never liked her aunt.
Her grandparents were kind, but, Slytherin they were, rather kept a distance from their grandchildren. Well Grandma Verna might be better…since she taught Lindsey archery and Chinese. Perseus, their cousin, Slytherin as well, was rather dull. He was fairly quiet, and was shy——Lindsey had never had a good talk with him till now. Edmund sorta liked him, but maybe that’s only they were in the same grade. Aunt Dorothy was somehow the worst. Cold, and mean, nearly nobody liked her. Lindsey had always wondered why she was a Gryffindor. And her acts were weird.
That was the picture of people living in the Linfield manor.
She did not know why her mother decided to send her there. After her uncle’s sudden disappearing, the Linfield manor became a dead place. Speaking of Uncle Nathaniel…her heart sank. He was just so fun. And so kind.
But he was gone now. Most people believed that he died, because he had not showed up for five years. The night before he disappeared, Lindsey somehow remembered that he had paid a visit to her parents. And he gave Edmund and her chocolate. Then he left, forever.
Or was it forever? She did not know. Maybe he would never come back, or maybe he would knock at their door tomorrow. Everything was unknown.
And now she would be sending to Sheffield. For ten days. If Edmund wasn’t going, Lindsey believe that she would gonna be mad. Perseus wouldn’t talk much apart from a sympathetic smile…and she would be bored.
As she was thinking about her brother, Edmund showed up. “Ahhh morning Lynn! Have you done your dressing? Dad’s calling us to be quick.” he leaned against the door, and laughed. “Oh just think, we are gonna to stay in the dull place for ten days!”
“Agreed.” Lindsey smirked, while jumping up and walked towards the door. “But at least we could have fun together.”
The Springhall siblings showed at the breakfast table on time. Lindsey glanced at the old clock. Half past eight. They still had thirty minute to have breakfast properly. Quite a lot, thought Lindsey.
“So wish you could hopefully have fun with Perseus.” said their father Fitzwilliam. “And do not forget to say hello for us to your grandparents.”
She nodded, while her mother hugged her. “We should see you soon. Write to us, and Jadis would send it, okay?”
“Why mom that’s for sure! See you all!” Edmund exclaimed, and tried to find a place in the hug.
The clock stroke nine. “The Linfield Manor, Sheffield!” called Edmund, and he disappeared in the fireplace.
“Bye mom.” Lindsey said quietly, and followed Edmund into the fireplace. She suddenly had a belief. A strong one, that was.
Something unusual was going to happen.
Lindsey Springhall · Hufflepuff "Would you like a cup of hot cocoa?" |
Beauxbatons · Maximilien de Fostoncy "Maximilien is a mouthful, don’t you think?" |
Into the Unknown Darkness
Chapter 1 ♾ Arrival[font=Times New Romans]Date: July 26th, 2020
Time: 9am to 10pm
Location: Sheffield, England
Place: the Linfield Manor[/font]At the time she stepped out from the fireplace, she spotted Perseus’s smiling face. His smile, as usual, was a bit nervous, but still friendly.
“Pers!” she called her cousin, while giving him a hug. Edmund was grinning beside. “I miss you guys, actually.” Said Perseus, and Lindsey caught the little disappointment in his voice. Aunt Dorothy hadn’t treated him well…as it seemed so.
“Anyway, we are here, aren’t we?” Laughed the outgoing Edmund, in his usual mischievous tone. “So come on, Perseus, I somehow feel that it’s time for us to meet our grandparents.” And he led the way to the living room. Perseus and Lindsey followed, and it was not long before they saw Grandfather Matthew.
The Springhall children greeted their grandparents warmly, but Dorothy Linfield did not show up. “She’s a bit uncomfortable this morning, I think.” their grandfather explained. “You’d see her at dinner.”
Dinner? That was a long time. Lindsey did not know why her aunt wasn’t showing up, and she had no idea about where she would be sleeping tonight. The two questions seemed unrelated, but since she’s the only female here apart from her aunt, she might be spending her night with her. That would be horrible…however if her aunt’s ill, then maybe she could avoid all these.
The afternoon passed in games with Perseus and Edmund. She watched the two boys playing wizard chess, and they spent a fair amount of time playing the piano and singing. Young people always had a merry life, no matter what was happening around them. Lindsey felt generally good, and somehow, she did not regret this visit.
Aunt Dorothy indeed showed up at dinner. Her auburn hair was swept back, and her green eyes was just hollow. Seemed that she was indeed ill. “Aunt Thea.” she greeted in a small voice.
She was not expecting a warm reply. As a result, she was not amazed when her aunt only nodded coldly at her, and sat down at the dinner table. Lindsey sighed. How could Perseus live in such an environment? She now somehow understood why he wanted so much to go to the summer camp. “Sorry…mother isn’t well these days.” She felt a pat on the shoulder, and Perseus’s small voice. “Do you feel any better, mother?” he raised up his head, and asked loudly. Another cold nod was given by Dorothy. Lindsey gave a small sigh, and seated beside Edmund.
Dead silence. At last, Verna broke the silence. “Come, do you still enjoy the meal, Lynn? And you, Ed? Any opinions on my cooking?” the elderly Chinese lady smiled elegantly and charmingly. “Thank you, Grandma Verna. It is amazing.” answered Edmund, and it fell into silence again.
The meal was finally over, which was a great relief to Lindsey. “Isolated, don’t you think?” she grabbed Edmund’s arms before they went out for the living room. “Boring from the very beginning.”
Aunt Thea seated herself the nearest from the fire, and stared into the fire coldly. Grandpa Matthew started reading a newspaper, and grandma Verna was busy doing her knitting. Perseus proposed Edmund to play wizard chess with him, and Lindsey, being terrible at wizard chess, chose to read a book alone. Anyways, nobody had said a word during the evening — even Perseus and Edmund, who was busy playing chess, communicated nothing during their playing.
The clock struke nine. “I’m leaving.” groaned aunt Thea. After saying her first sentence this evening, she stormed out the room. Gloomily Lindsey put her book away. She had hardly read a word into her heart, and she was glad that the woman had finally left.
“Why, are you tired as well, Linds? Why do you stop reading?” asked her brother surprisingly. “No…no.” she answered. “I’m not…I will watch you guys play chess.” she ventured near the two, and watched them play the wizard chess quietly.
“Lin…it’s quite late.” after a while, Perseus murmured to her. “Don’t you — don’t you wish to go to bed?”
She knew that, being the master, Perseus was not able to propose to go to sleep. Being a rather skinny child, Lindsey knew that Pers wasn’t really as strong as herself. Though she wasn’t tired at all, Lindsey nodded slightly. And then she turned to her grandparents. “Grandpa Matthew, Grandma Verna…I, I think I’d like to go to my room.”
Everyone raised and left the living room upon her request. The whole Linfield Manor fell into a dead silence.
Lindsey Springhall · Hufflepuff "Would you like a cup of hot cocoa?" |
Beauxbatons · Maximilien de Fostoncy "Maximilien is a mouthful, don’t you think?" |
Into the Unknown Darkness
Chapter 2 ♾ The Night[font=Times New Romans]Date: July 26th, 2020
Time: 10:30 pm
Location: Sheffield, England
Place: the Linfield Manor[/font]“Darling, I’m so sorry about letting you stay in that room tonight…the other ones are cleaned entirely. Though tomorrow everything would be back to normal, and you may move in one of them. Ah, we are here.” the Chinese woman stopped in front of an ancient wooden door. Lindsey frowned. This was the room of her MIA uncle, Nathaniel. By all means it wasn’t a nice thing. By all means.
“Thank you, Grandma Verna…could you please lend me the lamp?” reflecting a bit, she answered. She could change nothing, so she’d better stay here tonight — maybe she could even find something intriguing in this room? If Edmund were to be appointed here, he would get extremely excited. Thrill seeking was one of his hobbies. But for Lindsey, all she wished was a good sleep in this dull manor.
Verna left. And Lindsey was left alone, isolated, in this large, luxury and ancient room.
She glanced around. This room looked like any other ones in Linfield Manor, and it was not scary at all — maybe only the lights were put out already. She knew well that her maternal grandparents would make sure that all lights were put out after ten o’clock in the evening, but at least, she had the small lamp. It was much better then a Lumos spell. Much better.
Silently she sat down on the bed. It was covered with velvet, and in the light of the small lamp, she perceived that it was in a rich purple color. Weird taste for uncle Nathan. She shrugged. The laughing interesting man often appeared in her dream now, and every time she would wake up in horror. The image of him knocking the door of Serendipity Garden at the raining night sometimes rang a bell, but really, except for these, she couldn’t really remember much of him. He was a nice Slytherin graduate, and that’s all.
Reflecting a bit, she slowly lied down. Maybe she could just have a nice sleep tonight…her head touched the pillow, but as soon as she lied down, Lindsey swung up.
No. Wait. What’s that? What’s the hard thing below the soft pillow? Was that a book? Or a small box containing something? Questioning herself, her long white fingers touched the thing below. A drag, and it was out.
It was a…book, with hard cover and looked relatively old with yellow themed paper under the weak light. But where’s the book’s title? And the author on the cover? Lindsey frowned. She realized that the light was too weak for her to read the words.
“Lumos.” she whispered. Warm light glowed from the tip of her wand. Satisfied, Lindsey opened the ancient and thick cover.
She nearly dropped the book when she opened the first page, for it wrote:
“Personal Diary:
Nathaniel Leopold Linfield.”
She knew the writing. That’s her MIA uncle Nathaniel’s.
Lindsey Springhall · Hufflepuff "Would you like a cup of hot cocoa?" |
Beauxbatons · Maximilien de Fostoncy "Maximilien is a mouthful, don’t you think?" |