WHO: Fleur and Open WHEN: Sunday afternoon WHERE: Diagon Alley WHAT: A lake appears! RATING: TBD WARNINGS: TBD STATUS: Open/Incomplete
It wasn't like Fleur to leave buying a birthday present until the last minute, but she'd just been so swamped with work that week that she'd done the unthinkable and spent Saturday in her pajamas with the Wireless. It had been a nice day and had left her feeling ready for a full Sunday of shopping and partying.
She planned her route carefully. She just wasn't after a birthday present for one of her best friends, but she needed several things from Diagon, from a restock for her wine cellar to a new quill to new shoes. This was going to be a good day.
She started with a walk down the length of the alley to its far end and then would work her way back through the shops in order. She had her list in hand and had just pivoted on her heel and set her other foot down to start back toward the Leaky when she felt something cold slosh over her toes.
Fleur blinked in surprise and lowered her list to peer down at her feet. There hadn't been a puddle there a moment ago. But there wasn't a puddle there now, but a lake. She had stepped into the shallows of what looked like a bottomless lake filled with dark water. She froze as her eyes traveled up from her feet and along the surface of the water.
Tiny waves lapped against the storefronts on either side and the darkness stretched all the way down the alley and out of sight. Other people were walking on top of it as though it were solid stone and not frigid water.
Something moved below the surface, something eerie and green, something with tentacles and claws. Eyes were staring back at her from the depths.
Feeling a chill down her spine that had nothing to do with the cold water in her shoe, Fleur backed away from the lake. She could almost see the grindylows darting beneath the surface, waiting with their long fingers to drag her back below the surface, but they would keep her there this time. There would be no one to pull her out and save her.
She closed her eyes and covered her face in her hands, forcing out steadying breaths, praying that the black lake would be gone when she looked again.