Night had fallen outside, and still, I couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong. A full-moon hung overhead on a blanket of midnight blue, glowing ominously beside millions of twinkling stars. The mid-November air was cold and harsh, and stood watching my new Husky puppy, Snow, bound around the garden excitedly, I had to wrap my cardigan tighter around my body to stop myself shivering.
Something was going on. Something was wrong. It was like I could feel it in my bones.
"Mia?"
I glanced over my shoulder and smiled as best as I could as my husband, Luke, moved through the kitchen toward me. His hazel eyes scanned my expression in concern, and his mouse brown hair was neatly combed back from his day at work. Smiling back at me, he wrapped his arms around me tightly and held me against his tall, lean body. "Everything okay?" he asked, kissing my forehead softly.
"Of course," I replied, and as always when I lied, my voice gave a tell-tale pitch upwards at the end.
He leant back to look at me and lifted an eyebrow, his expression growing a fraction more serious. "Mia," he started, and I sighed. He had every reason to be worried. It was only understandable in times like these, when no one trusted anyone else and we lived in constant fear of what was to come.
"It's nothing serious," I replied with a small shrug, trying and failing to calm him down. "I just can't shake the feeling that something is wrong."
He frowned down at me for a moment, then sighed heavily and pulled me closer. "It's only natural, Mia," he told me, in his usual, patronising tone I rarely complained about. "The Prophet might be telling everyone that things are getting better, but they're worse than ever. The law enforcement department at the Ministry is working overtime, and even the Auror department is starting to run into trouble."
"Really?" I blinked, my chest constricting. There was a time not so long ago when the Auror department hardly ever ran into problems. In some of the darkest times we could remember, they alone gave people hope. Then Selena Black, the Head Auror, disappeared and despite the department launching a full scale search for her, no one had seen or heard anything about her since.
As if he knew what I was thinking, Luke frowned and took a step back. "It's got nothing to do with that woman, Mia. Things are just getting worse, that's all."
"That woman?" I breathed in shock. "How can you say that? You knew her, Luke!"
"Knew," he mumbled with a frown. "Past tense. We haven't seen her since she left Hogwarts, and there are reasons, Mia. The woman was dangerous."
I gulped hard, opening my mouth to reply, but someone suddenly hammered loudly on the door.
Luke immediately went rigid, but I took a deep breath and moved to answer it, snatching my wand off the kitchen counter as I went. Stowing it up the sleeve of my cardigan discreetly, I hurried through the living room and back to the front door. Hesitating only a second, I pulled it open and gasped when I saw who was outside.
"We need to talk," Sirius Black said shakily, stepping into my house and clutching a bundle of blankets against his chest tightly. "Quickly. We don't have much time."