The scream pierced the early morning calm like a knife in butter. Ron and Harry were just about to begin a game of chess when they heard it.
"What the bloody hell was that?" Ron asked as he paused to see if the scream would come again.
"Everyone else went to Diagon Alley, so it must've been Hermione." Harry answered as the boys jumped to their feet.
As the boys entered the living room, they discovered that she wasn't there.
"Where is she?" Ron asked, although more to himself than to Harry.
After several flights of stairs, the boys decided that she must be in Ron's room. When they entered his bright orange room, they found her. She was on her hands and knees and had the spastic movements of someone who was silently sobbing.
"Hermione?" the boys asked gently as they knelt down beside her. When she looked up, she was paler than either boy had ever seen her look.
"What happened? Are you alright?" Ron asked tentatively.
"I s-saw a . . . a . . . a mouse." Hermione stammered in a quiet voice quiet unlike her own. Ron couldn't help grinning a bit.
"Is that all? You saw Scabbers plenty of times without freaking out."
"N-not the same. S-Scabbers was a rat. This was a m-mouse." she replied.
"What's the difference?" Harry asked gently.
"It never happened with a r-rat. Only a m-mouse."
"What never happened?" Ron asked as he tried to suppress the grin that was still evident on his freckled face.
Hesitating slightly, Hermione began her tale.
