Chapter 24

Without another word Hermione ran out of the library. Kayla dropped the book she was holding and followed her friend. She wondered what distracted her friend like that, while she chased after Hermione trying to catch up.

Hermione ran, without looking back, through several hallways and down several hallways, Kayla always close behind. Then Hermione stopped short right at the front doors of the castle.

Kayla walked up to her friend panting and holding her sides "What is WRONG with you Hermione"

Hermione didn't answer but looked at her watch. Still more than an hour until sunset, she thought.

The Gryffindor prefect walked through the front doors and down the stone steps. Kayla had no idea what to think about this but she decided to follow her. This is scary. That's not like Hermione at all.

She spotted something on the lawn not far from Hagrid's cabin, half covered by a huge pumpkin. How her friend could have detected it was incomprehensible.

Kayla ran faster across the lawn, but Hermione was far ahead. She recognized that the Gryffindor prefect waved the dark figure over as soon as she arrived at the gamekeepers hut. Whatever it was, she was waving at stayed in the shadows and so it was impossible for Kayla to tell what it was.

She started to sincerely become worried about her friend, because this thing was huge. She crossed the remaining distance in high-speed and arrived at the cabin only seconds after Hermione had closed the door.

What she saw inside was almost unbelievable. A huge black dog was jumping at Hermione licking her face. Kayla took her wand out instantly and aimed at the dog.

"Ye can put yer wand down, he's not goin ter hurt 'er "Hagrid explained.

Kayla was taken aback. She looked at her friend inquisitively and realized that she seemed to be happy about the strange welcome. She lowered her wand and made a few steps towards Hermione.

"You can transform; she's ok" Hermione said to the dog and after a few moments a man with long black hair and rather tattered clothes appeared in front of her.

"May I introduce you" Hermione smiled widely "Kayla, this is Sirius Black, Harry's godfather and Sirius, this is Kayla Warren, Harry's cousin"

Sirius and Kayla were stunned. For a while they did nothing but stare at each other in amazement and shock.

Then Sirius turned towards Hermione and said "Is Harry ok? Dumbledore told me that Malfoy injured a student who was sitting next to Harry"

"The student was my brother Kelsey and fortunately nothing happened to Harry" Kayla answered slowly, still not knowing how to deal with this new situation.

"And you are Harry's cousin? How can that be? I believed that Harry had no other living relatives than the wretched Dursleys." Sirius asked.

"My mother is Lily's cousin. Nicole Warren... before she married my father her name was Evans. Dumbledore insisted that my parents moved away from here 15 years ago. I had no idea I was Harry's cousin before my brother was attacked." Kayla explained shyly. The wizard seemed friendly and he was Harry's godfather, but she still didn't feel comfortable yet.

"What you're Nicole's daughter? We went to school together. How is she doing? She really married that Warren guy?" Sirius poured out.

Kayla didn't know what to say. Harry had told her about Sirius after they had found out they were related. She knew how Hermione and Harry had saved Sirius from the MOM two years ago and that he was hiding ever since, but to run into him just like that she would have never expected.

The others had sat down and Sirius was feeding Fang with extra large dog treats, while Kayla was still standing next to the door with her wand half raised.

"Sit down please, you're making me nervous" Sirius said and Kayla slowly walked over to the table.

"You don't need to be scared. Sirius is not going to harm you." Hermione assured her friend "The past few weeks have been pretty hard from her" she explained to Sirius.

"Malfoy again?" Sirius said gloomily, padding Kayla's hand. Kayla was quite amazed that she didn't feel the urge to pull her hand away when he touched it.

"Yes he almost killed my brother" Kayla spat.

"The whole Malfoy boiling will get what they deserve" Sirius growled "Just wait and see"

Kayla suddenly felt very thankful about the sympathy the black-haired wizard was showing her.

"So what are you doing here? It is far too dangerous for you to leave your hide out." Hermione scolded.

"Harry sent me an owl and asked me if I have any idea how to get dried vampire blood. You might not know it Hermione, but some of my family members were very close to Voldemort" The sound of the name made Hermione shiver. "And unfortunately some of them still are. I expect that he will free his most loyal followers, who are still imprisoned in Azkaban, very shortly. My dear cousin Bellatrix was his lap dog and I'm sure she would love nothing more than to take this place again.

I'm the only one in my family who's not on the dark side. I'm the outcast, the black sheep so to say." his voice trailed off. "When I received Harry's owl, I was afraid Old Tom might be using Harry. What other reason would Harry have to ask for something that is used for black magic?"

"You-know-who is not using Harry. There's a very simple explanation to everything." Hermione sighed with relief. "I suggest you hide in the Shrieking Shag again and I inform Harry that you are here right tomorrow morning."

"Why can't he come tonight? It's been so long since I've seen him" Sirius spoke up.

"There are dragons protecting the school now and Dumbledore said he would expel every student who is out on the grounds after sunset" Kayla answered the question calmly "And when we tell Harry that you are here tonight, there will nothing in this world be able to hold him back" Sirius nodded disappointedly

"Then you should hurry. It's getting dark already." he said before he transformed into the black dog again.

"We'll open the passage for you" Hermione padded the head of the shaggy dog, which was whimpering sadly. The girls waved goodbye to Hagrid left the cabin accompanied by the dog. When they arrived at the Whomping Willow, Hermione picked up a large branch and touched the knot on the trunk of the tree. The dog jumped at the girls again and licked their faces, than he ran over to the tree and disappeared in a hole.

Kayla and Hermione turned around and walked back to the castle without speaking a word. Shortly before they arrived at the front doors, Hermione whispered "We call him Snuffles when other people are around. This will make sure his true identity remains secret."

They went inside just in time before the last rays of sunlight disappeared behind the forest. Hermione sighed deeply, relieved that they had made it back in time. Her worst nightmare would come true if she should ever get expelled.

The girls walked back to their common room, where her friends were still waiting. Kelsey was more than upset, he was furious.

"WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN MISSY?" he yelled as soon as Kayla's head appeared in the portrait hole. He rushed to the entrance and pulled her inside. Kayla tried to free herself from her brother's tight grip, but it was impossible. His hands were like pliers, digging deep into the flesh of her arms. She struggled more and finally managed to free one arm.

"What the hell is wrong with you Kel? Why do you have such an attitude?"

"YOU ask ME why I have an attitude. I have been looking for you everywhere! You were not in the library or the Great Hall or anywhere else I've looked for you. And then Ron spotted the two of you out there on the lawn." he yelled even louder when he recognized the slight smirk on his sisters face.

"And YOU" he turned to Hermione "You...YOU... I don't even know what to say to you. I thought above all people I know, you would be the last person who would get my sister into any trouble"

"For you information" Hermione answered coolly "Nobody is in trouble. We were back in the school before sunset, so no harm done. I would really appreciate it if you would calm your nerves and stop yelling now."

"Kelsey...please... everything is ok. We haven't been out for long and we haven't left the grounds. Hermione thought she had seen something but we couldn't find anything." Kayla said conciliatorily, not looking at her twin, because he would see right through the lie.

Her brother sighed and raised her head gently so that she had to look in his eyes "I was worried. You don't know what's lurking out there and what ever it is would consider you an easy prey. They would attack you instantly and might not even give you the chance to react or call for help."

"I know Kel and I'm sorry" Kayla admitted. The handsome Gryffindor kissed his sister slightly on the cheek and then proceeded to play chess with Harry. Kayla didn't tell her brother or one of their friends that they had permission for the restricted section. She didn't feel that she needed to and one look at Hermione was enough to see that she shared her opinion.

It had been a long day so they all decided to turn in early, so after Kelsey had beaten Harry, they said good night and went to their dorms.

"I have the very strong feeling the girls are hiding something from us." Harry said, after he had changed into his pyjamas. "They're acting strange for a while already"

Ron, who was already in bed, just mumbled "Girls...maybe they're stalking someone. It can't be Lockhard though" he added dryly. Harry chuckled when Kelsey asked, in a is-there-something-I-need-to-know voice "Who's Lockhart"

Harry knew if he wouldn't explain it, Kelsey's brother-instinct would get out of hand again. "Gilderoy Lockhart was our DADA teacher 3 years ago. He was also a famous writer although all the adventures he claimed as his own had been experienced by others. He erased their memory with an oblivion spell and walked off with the fame. As a teacher he was a total failure but most of the girls had a crush on him and one of them was our little Hermione"

Ron snorted "She had never showed a good taste when it comes to men. Just look at Krum" Harry glanced at the other beds, but their room mates were already sound asleep.

"Krum? Viktor Krum?" Kelsey asked curiously.

"Yeah Vicky" Ron spat disgustedly.

"You guys actually know Viktor Krum...that's so amazing" Kelsey glared at them in awe.

"He was the Durmstrang champion at the Triwizard Tournament last year." Harry explained. He tried not to think about the horrible night at the graveyard; Cedric's death was still haunting him in his sleep. The first weeks after the incident Harry didn't dare to go to sleep at all. Every time he closed his eyes he saw Cedric's dead body and his ghost...soul or whatever it was that had emerged from Voldemort's wand asking him to take his body to his parents.

He felt responsible for the fact that Cedric lost his life. If he would have died 14 years ago when Voldemort tried to kill him, nobody would have ever been in danger...Ginny...Cedric would have never been harmed.

Nonsense,he scolded himself. If Voldemort had killed me then and kept his full power all of my friends might be dead by now.

Ron recognized the empty haunted look in Harry's eyes and decided to end the conversation. "I don't know about you two, but I'm tired. So...good night." He curled up in his bed and fell asleep instantly.

Kelsey sighed; he knew he had touched a subject his friends seemed not to be comfortable with. He would have to ask Hermione about it and he wanted to know what they really had been doing on the grounds. Then he decided to follow Ron's advice and went to sleep.

Harry listened to his friends' calm breathing as they drifted off to sleep. The last few weeks had been so eventful that he hadn't been thinking about Cedric, but now, after Kelsey had brought it up, the reality hit him again.

He pulled his knees up to his chest, shivering slightly. I cannot allow the past to control me, he thought before he closed the curtains of his four-poster bed, trying to shut out the terrible memories and the worries about the future.