Chapter VII: Dreams Within Reach
The leaves whipped and stirred through the silent valley of the English countryside. Rays of tainted yellow sunlight flooded the village of Hogsmeade and wind whistled through mountains. The sound of children's laughter had yet to fill the streets with song. The cobblestone pathways were silent and a stray rat lingered at a garbage can near the Hogs Head Pub. Sniffing the air, longing to detect a morsel of sustenance, it clawed at it's face in frustration. A door opened nearby and a hunched over woman tossed out a pail of water, which flowed down a lonely alley, and scared the rat as the flood approached him. He scurried off and sought the shelter of an overturned crate.
As the sun grew braver, and crept further from behind the mountains, the chill began to retreat. Shadows scattered in fear as the light of the sun gave them chase. Slowly, sugary smells from Honeydukes escaped into the streets, sure to attract whomever may tread these streets today. The rat smelling the intoxicating treats issuing from Honeydukes, dared move from his crate, to better investigate and procure himself a breakfast. Onward he scurried, his long claws tapping along the cobblestone streets, his long tan tail dragging along behind him.
The smell was overpowering now, the rat was close to the store now, how it's nose rose as he came to the front door. A massive barricade of brown wood blocked him from progressing further. His ears perked up and he his stomach cried out impatiently. He tilted his head and gazed up at the ledge jutting out near the barricade- a window! The rat approached the cold wall of stone and looked for a way to climb it's heights.
The rat grabbed on the wall and scaled it, danger and death waiting not far behind him, fate was whispering in his ear- daring him to falter. The rat scurried faster up the wall and his snout touched the wooden ledge first, removing one paw from the wall, the rat reached out to grab on and lift himself. So close was he. One paw was up, then the next, there came his entire body, at last his turmoil was over and he came to rest on the ledge – out of breath.
But he was victorious, after his careful scaling of that deathly wall, he came to rest just near an open window. From that window came wafts of wonderful smelling food – How his stomach rumbled! His began to drool in anticipation as he started to walk into the shop, prepared to steal his breakfast- then have a well deserved nap.
He stopped and raised his head and stood on two legs, as if proud of achieving this feat, as he was about to enter the opened window.
The hawk swooped down from above and had reached the defiant rat as he declared his independence. The hawks strong talons wrapped around the rat, almost crushing his ribs, as the rat cried out in surprise. The rat squirmed, writhed and bit in resistance. He slapped his tail violently and hit the hawk on his underside, fighting for all he was worth. The rat then bit down with his sharp teeth, and he buried them deeply in the rough skin of the hawks foot that was holding him. The hawk shrieked out and it released it's grip of the rat involountarily.
The rat squeaked in triumph as he felt himself able to breathe again, the wind rushing over him and messing his fur. The rat had yet to realize just how far up he was, how far he had yet to fall, and how little time he had left to live. It turned it's furry head and squeaked in terror as the ground came ever closer. All he wanted was a tasty treat. Such was the last thought the rat ever had, he had been so close.
[A/N This was simply my prologue to the next chapter. It is setting the scene for Saturday morning, where in this same village – Severus Snape & Amaline Higgs, will duel with James Potter and his second. I wanted to do a good description scene- the next chapter is coming along nicely, it'll be up within the next few hours. -TowerMage