Disclaimer:
Harry Potter and all of its characters belong to J.K. Rowling.
I own nothing but the original characters I make.
"Dialogue"
'Thoughts'
-Author notes-
Chapter 54: The Haunted House Part 2
"And then? I ran, of course. What else could I do? I haven't returned to the house since that day."
"I see…" Harry wasn't completely sure if this was the book he had been looking for. In his personal experience, the tome had never caused any strange phenomena in all the years he had it in his tower.
There was always the chance that this guy was just being overly paranoid or had too much of an imagination.
But there was only one way to find out.
"I assume that you still have the keys to the house," Harry said.
"Y-you believe me?" the man asked. "No one believed me at the bar when I told them… they called me crazy."
"It matters not what I believe, Mister Laurent. But if the book I'm looking for is in that house, your monetary problems will all be solved."
"Wait… how do you know I have money issues?" the man asked Harry, his tone suspicious.
"Seriously?" Harry pointed around. "Have you seen your house?"
"Ah… well…" He looked a bit embarrassed. "Times are tough, you know?"
"Of course, I understand. So… can we go now? I don't have a lot of free time," Harry suggested.
The man made a troubled expression. "But… isn't this illegal? I mean, if we go in there and take something that belongs to Master Frank."
Harry took the money bag from his jacket and handed it to the man. "You won't get anywhere in life without taking a few risks."
The man took the bag and immediately opened it, grasping one of the coins between his fingers. "Is this… real gold?"
"Very much real. And if we can find what I'm looking for, there will be another bag like that one. And if we don't, then you can still keep that one. What do you say, Mister Laurent?"
"I'll get the keys!" he immediately answered.
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They had to walk for several minutes to reach the house in question, as it was separated from the rest of the village.
At the end of a long road was the stone manor, guarded by a black metallic gate.
The keeper used his keys to open the gates while shifting his gaze around, as if he wanted to make sure no one could see them.
He had no idea how useless that was, since Harry had already made sure no one was following them.
"Okay, here we go," the man said, sounding extremely nervous as they moved into the property.
Ahead of them was a garden that had been left unattended for far too long.
The plants were starting to creep into the manor's stone walls and climbing towards the windows and balcony.
The man moved towards the main door and began to fumble with the keychain until he found the right one.
Meanwhile, Harry was trying to get a feel for the area, trying to pick up anything that seemed familiar to him.
"Mmm… there is something that is for sure." He could perceive remnants of magical energies coming from the house.
Terrible events had truly taken place here. The remnants of all that pain and suffering could still be felt by someone as sensitive as Harry.
'So I suppose it wasn't all his imagination after all,' Harry thought.
The large wooden door creaked loudly as it was pushed open for the first time in years.
The keeper remained standing at the threshold, paralyzed by fear and unable to take a step further inside.
"Mister Laurent?" Harry called.
The man swallowed his saliva. "I'm sorry. It's just… that unpleasant sensation that I told you about. It's still there! There is something evil inside. I can tell!"
Harry walked past him. "Mister Laurent, I assure you there is nothing to fear. Whatever lies in here, I am more than capable of handling it."
"You… you still haven't told me what you do, Mister Potter."
Harry smiled. "You could say that I am an expert on the strange. Also, I am a bit of a collector of unusual artifacts."
"Oh…" This didn't seem to inspire much confidence in the man.
"Now, let's move along," Harry said as he walked into the manor. "Just show me where you last saw this book, and we will be out of here in no time."
"Okay." The man nodded and took a few steps inside the property.
All of a sudden, Harry felt a magical reaction taking place around him. Before he could pinpoint the source, the main gate of the manor was violently closed, making a loud banging noise.
"Ahh!" The keeper had just walked a few steps inside and was almost hit by the door.
He immediately panicked and went to open it. "It's locked!" he shouted. "We are trapped!"
"Interesting…" Harry muttered. "Perhaps this house is actually haunted after all."
"W-what do we do now?" the keeper asked with a trembling voice.
"There is no need to get nervous. Everything is unde—"
Harry was interrupted by louder banging noises. Doors and windows all over the house began to shut down.
Just a short moment later, the entire house was enveloped in darkness.
"But this may take a bit longer than I initially thought," Harry added.
"Ahhh! I knew it! We are going to die in here!" Mister Laurent was completely terrified now. "I should never have come back to this cursed house!"
"Can't see a thing like this." With all of the windows closed, there was no sunlight entering the house.
Harry was considering using a light charm in front of the muggle when suddenly… dozens of candles around the entrance hall were lit, bathing the room in an eerie orange light.
"That was very kind, thank you," Harry said to whoever had done that.
Mister Laurent walked closer to him. "M-Mister Potter, do you know what this is?"
"Mmm… it's a bit early to tell, but there seems to be an entity in here," Harry said.
"An entity?… what kind of en—"
A soft female voice interrupted their conversation. "You… will never leave this place!" The light of the candles began to flicker.
The creepy voice started to laugh after giving them that vague threat.
"That one," Harry responded.
While Mister Laurent continued to cry, Harry was starting to feel very eager to discover what had happened in this house.
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