<<<< Riddikulus >>>

To all the Potter heads out there. Hope you like this chapter.

______________________________________________________________________________

***Lilia's POV ***

We hurry home and lock the door behind us, afraid of what was lurking outside. Ingrid is positively shivering. I was afraid, but somehow glad I didn't meet this person. Whatever it is, scared Iddy and I'm sure I'd also be scared, given Ingrid is the bravest amongst us.

Who was it she saw? And what was with that creature?

"Can we please sleep in one room? I'm afraid he might turn up at my window in the middle of the night," Ingrid cuts me off from my thoughts about the mysterious guy or creature?

"Okay fine." I sigh and head on to my room with Ingrid right by my tail.

I'm so glad my parents are heavy sleepers. They didn't even wake up amidst all this chaos. I throw myself on my bed, all the while thinking about what just happened and the strange guy at the party.

I google 'men with dark black eyes and pale skin,' and hit the search engine. The screen displayed articles about 'how to get rid of dark circles, dark eye treatment, dark veins' and such.

I groaned and shut this 'piece of shit' off. Why can't for once things go right !?

I was lost in my thoughts about what was happening with this town when Ingrid stepped into my room in her pajamas. We called it a night and hit the bed.

All these mysteries occupied my mind, and I barely slept that night.

Soon, the night switched on its lights; and it's the day I have been dreading or in Ingrid's case waiting for. Our parents will leave for a month and we can finally throw all the parties, hang out with our friends or boyfriend in my sister's case and do everything we dreamt of. Freedom was just a hair's breadth away. I wake up with all these wonderful thoughts running in my head, completely forgetting last night. I yawn and stretch my hands and hear someone yelp.

"Ouch."

"Oops I forgot you were here!" I apologize to Iddy.

"Ingriddd, Liliiiii. Woke up??"

"Yeah mommmm." I drag my words the same way I drag myself down.

I see Mom and Dad all set with their luggage waiting for us in the living room.

"All set eh?" I ask trying to hide my emotions. I'm sure we will have fun, but I will miss them just as much.

"Aw, baby. Don't cry." My mom says hugging me. I can't hide anything from her.

"I'll miss you, mom." I say hugging her back.

From the corner of my eyes, I see Ingrid hugging my Dad. She has a mischievous glint in her eyes. I wonder what is she up to now. I see dad sighing, probably already understanding the fate of the house and worrying about it.

"Come on, let's have breakfast and then we shall leave."

We have a silent breakfast and it's a first. Our breakfasts are never silent, they are always noisy and full of life. Guess we were all trying to soak up the last minutes we will spend together for a long time.

"Girls listen, be careful when we are not here. No talking to strangers." my mom says while checking her checklist if she has everything.

"Darlin' no one in this town is a stranger." says my dad.

"Except the one I met." I whisper under my breath.

"Still. They need to know their limits. And no PARTYING in the house. I need my house in the same condition I'm leaving it. No letting strangers into my house. And no doing any illegal stuff. Get it ??"

"Yes, mom." we chorus together.

"Bye kids. Be careful when we are not here. Oh, and I told Mrs. Potts to keep an eye you girls. Don't trouble her okay??" My mom says before heading towards the door.

"Mom, we aren't five anymore." I say embarrassed and Mrs Potts — Oh, I need to talk to her about last night.

"Still, I need to know about you guys and I trust her. Well then, that's it."

"Have lots of fun kids, but don't bring down the house okay." My dad says hugging me. This is why I love him more. He knows about us and knows where to draw our lines.

After a tearful adieu and lots of hugs and kisses, we finally have the house to ourselves.

"This is what I say life should be like." Ingrid says.

She turns on the music system as high as possible, all the while singing the lyrics out loud to her favorite song, The Nights by Avicii.

She was singing along and dancing like a pro. I soon join her, and we pretend to be rock stars going around dancing and singing. After a while, I feel tired, and I head up to my room.

Reality finally set in. The previous day flashed by and I realized something is definitely fishy in our town .

The whole day seems to be uneventful. We made plans of going out, but the incessant rains ruined it.

I hear a knock on my room and immediately I shut down my laptop, not wanting Iddy to find what I was searching for -- Chupacabra.

"Come on in," I say.

"Watcha doing?" She says plopping on my bed.

"Nothing much pretty shaken after what happened last  night."

"Me too. And Kevin is not even answering the call. I wanted to ask him about this."

"Why ?"

"Maybe he saw something.  I swear if granny was around we would have loads of fun and she'd also give us a clarity over things." She tells her eyes lost elsewhere.

I miss those days, those fun-filled days when granny would tell us stories about her childhood and about the Swan family. Maybe they are all true. 

"Lilia, why don't we go to Nana's room ?"

"But we aren't supposed to."

"We own the house, baby." she says in that mischievous tone of hers'.

I still wonder how did she end up convincing me. Ten minutes later we creep upstairs, not wanting to attract the attention of our cooks or housemaids, who are loyal to our parents and would report every single thing to them.

We slowly climb up the stairs and reached granny's room at the end of the hallway. The door slightly creaked when we opened it. The room had a cozy aura to it. It still looked the same, like the last time I was here.

The same old white netted curtains, creme walls, the king-sized bed in the middle, and granny's things. They still placed them in the same way, not a thing out of place. Even the books in the enormous bookshelf were still in the same way granny always kept them.

We were nestled in my grandma's bed and were laughing our asses out at our old photos when we heard someone unlocking the door.

"Shit! If they find us here, we are dead." I whisper yell.

"Quick hide somewhere," Ingrid says getting up from the bed.

In my hurry to hide inside the wardrobe, yeah that is where my brilliant mind decided would be perfect to hide, I trip over my own feet and fall on my grandma's precious ebony desk. I hear a swirling noise and turn around to find that the enormous bookshelf revealing itself. It was actually a secret room or something even better.

"Wow, another secret tunnel," I say, suprised. 

"Coooollll! Ingrids exclaims and was trying to figure out how this works. 

We hear a creaking sound by the door and I panic.

"Well, that's a great place to hide. Come on," Iddy says, dragging me. 

My gut feeling told it would not be good. Nevertheless, I had to go there. We step inside the bookshelf to see that it is quite spacious. The minute we step in, the bookshelf automatically closes. Soon enough we hear muffled voices from the other side.

"Uff. Just in time," I say sighing. 

"Where do you think this leads to?" Ingrid asks while casually examining the secret tunnel.

"I have no clue. And no Iddy we aren't going in this tunnel," I say, already sensing what she is up to.

"We don't have an option. Remember, the door is locked."

"Try unlocking it. Use your skills." I say, not ready to budge.

She sighs in irritation and tries opening the door. She tried picking the lock, even breaking it, but it doesn't work. It can only open, probably from the other side.

"Well, let's look for other ways to get out of here," she says walking past me.

Sighing, I agree and follow her. We take a few steps in the tunnel and see that it has stairs that go up. This had to be the biggest tunnel that I have seen in my house so far. The others were just connecting tunnels. Maybe this was the main one. I mean it has stairs too, enormous ones might I add.

"Wow this is quite huge," Ingrid says taking the words out of my mouth.

I just nod my head in agreement and was looking at the surroundings. 

I am awestruck at how beautiful and awesome this tunnel is, I agree it was spooky but just the stairs have me awestruck. The designs on them looked quite old and showed how old this house was. 

We carefully walk over the stairs, not knowing where it leads to. It was dark in here, thanks to the flashlight in my mobile we could walk without tripping. There were cobwebs in the tunnel, and the sounds of the insects chirping resounded around the empty tunnel. This tunnel has a very spooky vibe. The stairs creaking underneath just added to it.

I hold on tight on to my sister's hand, afraid of the unknown. Apprehensive of where we might end up or what might be at the other end. I could distinctly hear the patter of rain on the windows and look up to see a small window or maybe an opening. I could hear the rumbling of thunders and see quick flashes of lightning. We finally reach a door and I was sure this would not be good.

Iddy tries to open the door, and fortunately or unfortunately it opens.

We step in to see a few books scattered on the floor. There was hardly any sign of anyone living here except for a few shattered window pieces and old broken furniture. The corners were covered in cobwebs and there was a thick layer of dust on the floor, which the dim streak of light enhanced. Every step we took made the dust on the floor fly everywhere.

The whole room was bare of any sign of life. If the tunnel seemed spooky, this room was way worse.

"Where did we end up coming?"

"No idea Iddy, it looks very creepy though."

I walk around the room towards the window and peep down. From the corner of my eyes, I see Ingrid fiddling around with the books lying on the floor.

The weather seemed dangerous with the loud thunders and the sky, which just turned pitch black. All the way from up here also, I could see someone lurking in our backyard. I find them suddenly looking up and feel them staring straight at me with a malicious look on his face. How could that person spot us from this distance, I don't know?

"Iddy run. Now!" I yell, creeped out by the look on that person's face. He was staring right at me for quite some time, and then he suddenly started running towards the house. He seemed like he was up to something.

My gut feeling said something bad would happen.

"Where, why?"

"I think someone is after us. Let's just get out from here," I say dragging her with me.

The minute I say that I hear a shrill sound coming from the window, I turn around to see a giant Raven, larger than the usual size — perched on the windowsill. It was pitch black and its eyes had the same malicious glint that the man had.

"How the hell did a raven get here in this storm and that too so high?"

"High? Where are we, Lili?"

"In the prohibited tower. Now run." I yell frantically.

I see the raven trying to make its way inside through the broken window. Something just doesn't feel right. I grab Iddy and run through the door, slamming it shut. We could hear the raven clawing on the door from inside.

"RUN!!" is all I scream before running for the stairs.

"But this book.."

"Nevermind, we will put it back later. Now come on." I say dragging her along with me but accidentally trip down and fall down from the flight of stairs, dragging Ingrid with me.

Oh no, I am in for a ride.....

Please,

VOTE . COMMENT . SHARE.

Do share your feedback and opinion.

Until the next update,

LOTS OF LOVE

~ VAISHNAVI