Chapter 2 Cautious Minds
The mangy dog trotted down into the tunnel. Its red fur would have been bright and glossy had it been healthy. But its fur was matted and tough and scars littered its underbelly. The very air around it seemed to have an aura of malnutrition and hunger. It was so tensed that it jumped at the smallest sound, but the look in its eyes warned any own stupid enough to be in this part of London at night to stay away.
It seemed to know exactly where it was headed to, and the rats left it alone after the dog began to growl. They knew it would kill.
Rounding the corner, it started to run quickly, all fear of being pursued lost. Finally it came to the bathroom stall, and jumped over the fallen wall.
Five figures lay dejectedly in the half-gloom, the room only lit by a make-shift lantern.
They each lifted their heads at the coming of the dog. The candlelight reflected eerily on their gaunt faces, but even in their state two managed a mangled grin.
"Thank God, we were thinking something, something had happened." his smile faded.
The dog only nodded and spit out a tattered, slimy newspaper and the better part of a chicken.
Four eyes lit up but one at the sight of the chicken, but the other one hardly noticed it. He grabbed the paper and tried to salvage what remained of the articles.
"So. how did it go this time?" asked a red haired boy as he ripped a piece off the chicken. He looked to were the dog had been a second ago, but the dog was gone.
In its place was a girl, her long red hair uneven and snarled. Her robes were in the best condition of the six there, but that wasn't saying much.
"Not too bad. Had a run in with a few crows, and some old hag gave me the willies when I was getting the newspaper. At least its new though. Not that Daily Prophets are getting hard to find. I would've had stroke if I'd've seen a Daily Telegraph." She gave a short bark of a laugh.
Another boy with red hair, smaller than the first gave her a smile. "Well, good job this time. Prime grub this." He attempted to swallow his chicken in one bite but nearly choked.
"Careful, careful. you wouldn't want to not have room for." She fished in her pocket for a moment, and brought something out with a flourish. "This!"
Another red haired boy stared at her. He looked so like the first you could swear they were twins. "Blimey! You didn't. It can't be? Bloody hell!"
"I figured you fellows could use some nourishment. I had to fight some rats for it, but they found out who's boss." She looked around at the faces that were showing honest smiles. "Never though you'd be so happy just to see some fruit." She grinned and started peeling the orange with her thumb.
The three boys finished off their share of the chicken quickly and waited for her to finish.
Two pairs of eyes looked over the newspaper.
"Why was that in your pocket?" The voice was quiet, but immediately everyone was still, even the girl.
"Well, uh, you see."
"To put that in your pocket you would have had to change out of your form. You changed out of your form, didn't you?!"
"I figured someone would notice if a dog was walking around with an orange, of all things, in its mouth!"
"You could've betrayed our position! We could have Hit Wizards in the town this very minute!"
At this, everyone crouched in a fit of instinctive paranoia.
"I checked, honestly I did. It was just there at the top of the tunnel! And I know you've been wanting more than half eaten chicken."
"There were rats, there weren't there! Dammit, one of them could've been Pettigrew or worse!"
"C'mon, its just an orange. And when I said I checked, I checked that the rats were rats.
"What if someone was watching you! What if this time, you were wrong? I don't care if you see some ice cream and shepard's pie!" At this everyone was mouths started watering. "Do NOT change out of your form under any circumstances, do you understand!?"
The girl whimpered, but she knew he was right. "Sorry, really I am, sorry."
He turned back to his paper, and the four red heads finished their chicken and orange in silence, leaving two portions of each on the floor on top of an old paper bag.
The boy went back to his newspaper, never noticing his food. The last person leaned against the walls with eyes closed. The tendrils of light peeping from the lantern were not glowing bright enough to reach, leaving the figure cloaked in shadow.
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Well, cliffhanger!
Sorry I haven't updated in so long! Honestly, I'd sort of forgotten about it before JessieRose reviewed and reminded me.
So that's why I'm dedicating this chapter to JessieRose and HongMing, my two reviewers. Thank you!
Keep reviewing!