This was a short first chapter. I hope you like it.
Disclaimer: I do not own anything.
It was a chilly August night in muggle London. Hermione was reading one of her favorites books when her mother called for her from downstairs.
"Hermione, dear, can you please come and give me a hand?" the woman shouted.
"In a minute." Hermione yelled back. She wanted to finish the chapter first so it took her about ten minutes before she could get up and go see her mother.
"I'm here," she told her mother as soon as she got to the kitchen.
"Good." her mother smiled. "Dinner is almost ready. Can you please go take out the garbage and then help me set the table?"
"Sure." Hermione assured her mother but in fact, she was a bit annoyed that she had to put down the book so she could take out the garbage. The girl took the two bags that her mother prepared by the kitchen counter and she got out the front door.
As soon as she stepped outside, a cold shiver ran through her spine. It was indeed late august and it was a bit cold, especially in the evenings, but now it was different. Everything was silent; nothing could be heard except for the rustling of the plastic bags in Hermione's hands. She put them down and listened. Nothing. The girl waited for about five more minutes before she tried to put the uneasy feeling aside and returned to her given task.
When she got to the backyard, she quickly threw the bags into the large container and she turned on her heels to enter the house, but something made her stop in her tracks. She thought she saw a shadow with the corner of her eye. Slowly, she turned around, regretting the fact that she didn't have her wand with her. She knew that just holding it would bring her the illusion of safety.
The girl took one more step towards the large bin. There was nothing else in the small yard except the large garbage can so if something or somebody was looking for a place to hide, that would be the perfect place.
Another small step. Hermione tried to go through the list of creatures that could be hiding behind the container, but the list grew terribly fast and too dangerous so she forced herself to stop by going through a list of potions ingredients instead. In her mind, a calming potion was brewing. She was just about to take another step when her mother startled her.
"Hermione, dear, dinner is ready!" she shouted from the kitchen.
The girl wanted to yell back, but she found out she couldn't. She didn't want to scare the creature that was hiding in the dark. Instead, she stepped forward, but she still couldn't see or hear anything. A large ball of fur jumped in Hermione's arms just as she was preparing to take the last step.
"Crookshanks!" she exhaled relieved. "Where have you been? I thought I lost you." She whispered while the cat purred in her arms.
"Come, let's get you inside, you little monster." She told him and she walked away from the garbage can. When they entered the house, rain was starting to fall.
Later that night, Hermione was trying to get some sleep, but something bothered her. Something felt wrong, but she couldn't say what exactly. She turned on the other side so she could see out the window. The moon was covered by dark clouds of rain, rain that just continued falling, washing everything away. She remembered how she felt when she got outside, the cold uneasy feeling that haunted her ever since. Hermione was sure that she felt that way before, but she couldn't remember where or when.
The girl watched how the little droplets of rain crashed and then left wet trails against her window. The sound of falling rain was always soothing for her, but not now. Hermione got out of bed frustrated and she joined Crookshanks at the window. She was expecting to see him sleep as usual, but he was alert, watching outside the window, maybe seeing something that she couldn't. Hermione got closer and closer to the window so she could distinguish anything outside in the backyard, but the rain made it extremely difficult to see. Instead, the window started to get steamy where her warm breath touched the cold window. Something about this sight made her think of a frozen window. A train window. She unconsciously took a step back.
"Oh, Crookshanks, how could I forget?" she spoke aloud and suddenly the cat started to meow. At first, she thought it was just a response to her voice, but he then began to scratch the wooden window frame.
"Crookshanks? What is it?" Hermione approached him quickly. She looked out the window. Her first reaction was to look up for any sign of dementors in the sky, but she couldn't see any. She knew that if they were closer to her, the uneasy feeling would only grow stronger, and she felt the same. No, they were out there for sure, but they couldn't be so close.
The cat continued to scratch which brought her attention to the backyard, but nothing could be seen in the yard. It was too dark and the rain made it even more difficult to see through the window. A minute later, Crookshanks stopped scratching and jumped from the window only to scratch again at the door. Hermione knew what she had to do. She glanced one more time at the dark yard and she walked away.
Hermione took her wand quickly from her bedside and then she slowly opened the door. She didn't want to awaken her parents. As soon as she opened it, the cat started running down the stairs and out the door through the special cat place. She followed him outside the front door and quickly regretting her choice of clothes. She was only wearing her pajamas and a pair of slippers that got wet uncomfortably quickly.
When she reached the backyard, Crookshanks was nowhere to be seen. "Crookshanks!" she whispered, but nothing could be heard in return, only the rain that fell quicker than before. "Crookshanks, where are you?" Hermione whispered again and still, no response.
Slowly, Hermione turned to the only place that something or someone could hide behind in the yard. The old garbage can. She hoped that Crooks would jump again in her arms so she could return to her warm room, but she suspected that this time it was going to be different. She tightened her grip on the wand and she cast a small lumos. It was just enough to see two steps ahead, but that was enough for her.
Hermione walked cautiously towards the bin with the wand held low. She was about three steps away when she thought she saw someone's leg. It looked like someone was sprawled there on the grass, back against the old garbage can. She slowly approached the dark stretched figure. That someone was wearing large manly boots so she presumed it was a man that was lying in her backyard. The thought alone wasn't that frightening for her, but that, along with the presence of dementors was more than concerning and she refused to think it was just a coincidence.
She held her breath while she took the final step to go behind the can. Up until then, she could only see a man from the waist down since his back was against the bin. She could now see that underneath the large black coat he was still wearing the prison clothes. She couldn't even think of a reason why an Azkaban prisoner would end up so far away in the muggle world, especially in her backyard.
The brave Gryffindor took the final step and she instantly froze in her place when she saw the face of the unconscious intruder.
