Thanks to all my readers and reviews of the last chapter, and to my awesome beta. Seriously, I owe you so much.
-C
Disclaimer: Obviously, not mine.
Chapter 2: No False Alarm
"Everyone!"
I stumbled toward the crowd of people, rubbing my temples; I remembered falling and hitting my head in the stampede of people.
"Someone called us from inside, I'm sure of it," I saw an Auror speaking in low tones to a security wizard, a bit removed from the crowd. "And we couldn't get in, couldn't apparate in."
"Are you sure it wasn't just the anti-apparation and disapparation shields?" The security wizard was saying, but he sounded like he was doubting himself.
"No, Aurors can get through those," the man said, sounding agitated. "It was something else."
"Please calm down! There is no reason to panic! Our security wizards are inside now and have completely apprehended the situation and we offer you all a free flight on the muggle airline Charles DeGaulle to your respective locations, we have several ministry members stationed there now and ready to-"
"Roxanne Weasley!" My mother hissed, dark eyes flashing as she held my arm in a death grip. "Where the bloody hell have you been?" She pulled me into a bone-crushing hug. "I was just about to come get you! We're going to have to go on an airplane, one of those muggle transportation methods your grandfather's so obsessed with...they're saying it'll be a week until they've got the whole station back to normal, and we can't stay here for a week. School will be starting soon and we've still got to go to Diagon Alley!"
"Scoping out the scene to see if you could bash a couple dark wizard heads together?" Dad grinned at me. Both the beginnings of laugh lines and the ever present sadness in his blue eyes were the marks of his twin Fred, the uncle I had never met.
Mum glared at him, and he quickly cleared his throat. "I mean, you should have stuck closer to us, young lady..." the minute Mum turned her back, Dad and I burst into silent laughter. Dad never said 'young lady.'
Reporters began to flock around our large crowd, calling out questions about Dark Wizards. The Ministry officer paused his lengthy speech to assure them it was just a false alarm; someone must have accidentally hit the switch or something. He guaranteed them that nothing had gone wrong.
"Dad, do you think it was a false alarm?" I whispered. The grin slowly slid off his face and suddenly I saw the teenager who had witnessed part of Voldemort's first reign of terror, his rebirth, and downfall. And had lost both family and friends in the process.
"Did you see the group of Durmstrang teachers and students, Roxanne?" He whispered to me. "It's another wizarding school, used to be all boys but a couple of years ago they opened it up to girls too." I thought for a moment, and shook my head no.
"Well...I know dark wizards, Roxie," he whispered, using a nickname I wouldn't permit from anyone else. "And that was no false alarm."
With the help of several squibs working in the airport who the Ministry paid to clear out a few planes for us wizards, we were in the air several hours later. Now I sat next to Uncle Harry on the plane, listening to 200 wizards exclaim over the muggleness of the current situation. Purebloods were nervously asking half bloods and muggle born passengers how airplanes stayed up.
Uncle Harry was staring down at the magazine in front of him with an odd expression on his face. The magazine was in French, which I only knew a bit of, thanks to Fleur. It said something about an English family of three spitting in-no, winning-some contest...something to do with eating...eating contest? I gave up. The caption read Vernon Dursley, Petunia Dursley, and Dudley Dursley.
I looked back at Harry's face, his green eyes distant with the look of remembering a childhood, a lifetime. What was in that picture?
"Who are they?" Harry made no reaction, just absent-mindedly touched the scar on his forehead under his jet-black hair, still untouched by even a strand of gray.
"My aunt and uncle, and cousin," he said finally, and then I made the connection.
"Oh! They...that's your mum's sister, and you lived with them..." I trailed off.
"Dudley's still living with his parents," Uncle Harry said, a ghost of a smile on his face, the smile of a bullied child who saw retribution of the bully. "Yeah...I remember the last time I saw them. Dudley told me I wasn't a waste of space, and I didn't know if I'd live to see them again. I used to get a Christmas card from Petunia, once every year, for a few years. But after that, they just...stopped." He looked up and his eyes fixed on the seat in front of him, his mind a million miles away. After not saying anything for a while, he spoke again.
"Did you know there's going to be international students coming to Hogwarts this year? I suppose you didn't. I wasn't supposed to mention that...Merlin, I'm turning into Hagrid. Well, if Neville...Professor Longbottom, I mean...told me, then I guess it's alright...he didn't know where they were from, he thought possibly the new Magic institute in America. D'you mind if I go and talk to Rom and Hermione? I want to see what they think about that security breach at the station..." He got up and made his way to the back.
I swiveled in my seat, scanning for Victoire. I'd been wanting to speak to her-aha! She was sitting alone, staring out the window, blonde hair pulled back from her face in a messy yet elegant pony tail.
I stood up and stepped into the aisle, and caught the eye of Aunt Fleur. She cocked her head at Victoire, mouthing, 'you too?' I nodded and she swept her hand out as if to say 'go ahead.' I smiled briefly at her before sliding in beside Victoire.
Vic and I had never been the closest. Actually, she wasn't particularly close to any of us cousins, not like Rose and I were. It wasn't her fault, but she had always kind of distanced herself from our loud, rambunctious playing. As a child I had thought-we had all thought-that it was because she believed she was better than us. But now I realized she was a little scared, a little shy, even though we were all younger than her.
And maybe later, if she'd wanted to join in, she couldn't because we'd already formed bonds that she didn't think she could enter into. None of us ever left her out on purpose but I think we all felt a little bit guilty whenever we thought of Victoire.
"Hey." I touched her arm and beamed when she turned around to look at me.
"Hi, Roxanne." She offered me a brief smile before turning back around to stare at the window as we passed through a cloud, a few wispy bits clinging to the window.
"It sure looks like we're moving slowly, doesn't it?" I tried to make conversation, settling in and crossing my legs so she knew I was planning to stay a while.
"A lot slower than a portkey," she agreed. "But fast to a muggle."
"Yup," I nodded. The air was thick with awkwardness between us and I caught someone looking at me from between the crack in our seats. I twisted around in an uncomfortable position to see Rose looking at me with an odd look on her face. I quickly slipped her while Victoire's back was turned the letter I'd gotten from Dom at the reception so she could read it. "So...I'm really sorry about your wedding, Victoire, but you handled it so nicely, you didn't look nervous at all-"
"Roxanne, if this is what you came to talk about, please don't. I'm sorry, but you're only fourteen, you wouldn't understand. Okay? Just please go sit down."
"I'm sixteen," I said quietly, kind of hurt.
"Oh, merlin, I don't even know my cousin's age," Victoire moaned, and stifled what seemed to be a cross between a sob and a bitter laugh behind her hands. When she peeked over her fingertips at me, her brilliant blue eyes were shiny with tears. "Roxanne, I'm sorry," she sighed, resting her hand on my knee. "I'm being a brat, aren't I?"
"No, but if you did you'd have a right to!" I assured her vehemently. Half of me was screaming where's your loyalty to Dom but the other half chided it, saying blind loyalty to someone, no matter what wrong they've done, is worse than no loyalty at all. "I don't know what I would do if I had a sister and she ran away with my fiancee," I sighed, and I shivered when I tried to put myself in Vic's shoes. "Ooh, I'd be mad,"I laughed a bit. "But you were so calm...sorry. I'm sure you don't want to talk about this-" I got up to leave.
"Wait!" Victoire pleaded, pulling at my sleeve. I turned back around to look at her. "I do want to talk to you, Roxanne. We don't get to talk much, just us two. Actually, I suppose I don't talk to any of you cousins as much as I should," she sighed regretfully. "You all seemed to be having such fun without me, especially when you were children, and I didn't think you wanted me. And especially when Dominique came along, and she was so outgoing, like you, and Rose."
"It's not too late, you know," I told her, hoping I'd said the right thing. "I like your company, Vic, and for what it's worth, I'm on your side," I whispered the last bit, and squeezed her hand. "So when the traitors return, I've got your back."
A bit of fire came to Vic's eyes as she smiled and squeezed my hand back.
"By the way," I whispered. "I got a letter from Dom. Ted says he's sorry," I whispered, and Vic's eyes grew cold again at the mention of her sister.
"I honestly never want to see either of them again," she laughed a bit. "Well, that's not true. I know I'd miss them. Just right now...I don't feel like I could handle it."
"I'd help," I said eagerly, and she smiled gratefully at me.
"You know, I overheard something one night, between Dominique and Ted," she said, her voice thick with the beginnings of tears. But she looked up at the ceiling for a moment, gathered her strength, and carried on.
"You don't have to tell me, you know," I said. "If you don't want to."
"I do," Victoire assured me vehemently. "I heard them talking...Dominique pleading to call off the wedding. This was about a month ago. Ted said no, that he loved me, and Dominique asked him to kiss her. I don't know if he did. Or what was said. But he stormed out ten minutes later, and after that I never saw a word go between them that wasn't purely sibling-like." She paused, thinking. I felt disgusted with Dom, horrified. I felt Rose slip the letter back to me, but Victoire didn't seem to notice. I slid it into my pocket. "He must have changed his mind," she whispered.
"Do you ever wonder..." I began, wondering how to phrase it. "Do you ever wonder what was said? If they kissed, or...anything else?"
"If you mean Occlumency, it's crossed my mind," she admitted. "But I couldn't do it. I thought if I just trusted him, it would turn out all right. Obviously not!"
I stayed quiet. "Thank you, for telling me," I said. For a moment Victoire looked very shocked with herself, like something else entirely had possessed her to spill all her doubts and secrets and now she was wondering why she had. "I won't tell anyone, you know."
"I know," the ghost of a smile crossed her lips as she nodded. "Louis keeps telling me how he thinks he's going to challenge Ted to a wizard's duel, to the death!"
"Little brothers," I agreed laughing.
"Roxanne?" Rose asked in sort of a strained voice, standing. Her eyes were bright, her red hair pulled back from her face in a tight pony tail.
"What?" I asked, slightly impatient. Couldn't she see I was talking to Vic?
"It's important. We should talk," Rose said, and nodded her head toward the back of the airplane.
"I'll be right back," I told Victoire, and she nodded and smiled, looking back toward the window, seeming a little less sad now. When I left, Fleur slid in next to her daughter.
"Yeah?" I asked Rose and we both adopted identical positions, leaning our backs on the walls of either side of the aisle, crossing our arms. We had practically been raised out of the same crib, Rose and I, with our birthdays two days apart, and the closeness of all four our parents having played Quidditch together.
"What were you talking to Victoire about?" She asked, looking at me intently.
"Well, Dom. I can't believe what she did," I sighed. "What could she be thinking?" I wondered.
"Well," Rose said slowly. I could tell she had a different opinion, but was hesitant to voice it. "She loved Ted, and obviously Ted loved her-"
"That doesn't make it okay to humiliate Victoire like that, running away...they completely betrayed her, both of them," I pointed out, my voice slightly strained.
"Well, maybe it wasn't the perfect time, but it was love, Roxanne! People wait all their lives to find love like Dom and Ted's," she said passionately.
"What?!" I exclaimed. "Are you insane?! They left her at the actual wedding! And even if they hadn't done it at that moment, it was her sister and her fiancee. The two people who should have always been at her side! Not betraying her!" What was Rose thinking?
"Roxanne, where's your loyalty to Dom!" Rose demanded angrily. I stepped forward, standing nose to nose with her. We were exactly the same height.
"Taken a vacation when Dominique ruined Victoire's wedding and stole her husband!" I raised my voice.
"He wasn't her husband yet!" She rose hers as well.
"Close enough!" I was practically shouting now.
"You didn't deserve that letter from her, she should have sent it to me!" Rose yelled.
"She should have! She was wrong in thinking everyone would give her sympathy, and you're wrong in giving yours to her!" I yelled, my voice ultimately louder than hers. I smirked at her triumphantly, and then turned around to see the whole entire plane staring at us, rows and rose of shocked expressions.
"Erm, sorry for the disruption-" Rose began.
"And that concludes your mid-flight soap opera!" I announced with a cheery smile. Some people actually began clapping, confused. Rose yanked my arm toward a small curtained off corner for luggage. I smiled and waved and blew kisses to the now thunderously applauding airplane, laughing with a smile still on my face as I came face to face with a steaming mad Rose.
"Oh, for Merlin's sake, Rose, just admit you're wrong," I snapped, yanking the curtain back and practically tripping over a suitcase.
"No, you-"
"Hello, ladies," a flight attendant yanked open the curtains, with a falsely cheery smile on her face. "Can I get you anything?"
"We're having a very important conversation," I smiled back just as cheerily. This flight attendant must have been a squib or a witch, otherwise she wouldn't have been let in on this plane trip.
"Well girls, let's continue it in our seats, shall we?" She said, cheerily clapping her hands together and steering us out.
"Okay," I grumbled. "Rose, I'll be on the other side of the airplane."
"Fine with me," she sneered, and I tossed my hair in her face before marching back to my seat.
"Albus!" A voice shouted as we took our few steps into Diagon Alley. All of the cousins were with Uncle Harry and Uncle Ron; we had exactly a week before Hogwarts, and I was both excited and dreading the end of summer.
"Scorpius!" Albus shouted, waving to his best friend somewhere in the crowd.
Diagon Alley was bustling with people, bells tinkling as they left and entered shops. Pasted all over glossy store windows were flashing, moving posters advertising things like 24 Years Voldemort-Free!
Special Discount for the Warriors of Hogwarts at Quality Quidditch Supplies Now Through September!
The Kingsley-Aaru Law Passed (Better known as the Remus Lupin law)-Making Life Easier for Werewolves One Step at a Time-You Have that One Time a Month, Why Can't They?
I saw my reflection in the nearest window, surrounded by a gaggle of cousins, mostly red-headed. Fred and I were nearly the only ones without the signature fiery hair-our mother was half black, but she was very dark. Fred took after her, and his skin was a glossy coffee sort of color. I took after my dad and was a lot paler, but you could still tell I wasn't completely Caucasian even though I had none of the traditional features that made a face look African. I had dark unmanageable frizzy (before I bought potion for it that would calm it down a lot) hair that was definitely from my mother, dark eyes, and a slightly darker complexion than normal. I didn't think I terrified any babies, but I wasn't any great beauty like Lily Luna, either.
We saw Scorpius weave his way through the crowd, his blonde hair flying. Al bolted out to greet him and when they met, they did some sort of weird, bro-version of a hug and then jumped up, slamming their chests into one another, proceeding to knock into a young witch with three screaming triplets trailing behind her.
"Sorry, ma'am!" Albus called, and Scorpius quickly picked up the triplet he had caused to fall over in surprise, shocking him out of his crying. He smiled innocently as the the mother turned around to glare at the boys.
"Guess what!" Once the family had passed, Albus shouted much too loud for just the person next to him. The two Slytherin boys, whenever together, always seemed to be having yelling contests with their dialogue. At this point Lily broke off with a couple of her friends, as well as Louis and Hugo.
"Here comes Draco and Astoria," my closest cousin to me, Lucy, whispered. "Fancy seeing you here, Potter," Lucy mocked Draco's standard stiff greeting in a nasally voice, jerkily extending a single finger to be shaken.
"Yes, hello, Malfoy. Let us converse awkwardly and stiffly while not making any attempt to put the past behind us," I said in just as nasally a voice, shaking my single finger with hers. We burst into giggles. Lucy was a Hufflepuff, also going into 6th year with Albus, Rose and I.
"Fancy seeing you here, Potter." Draco came up, smiling stiffly with his teeth clenched, only succeeding in looking like he was trying to hide the fact that someone was walloping him on the backside.
"-Dad told me that students from Durmstrang were coming!" Scorpius was telling Albus excitedly.
"Dad told me too-they have girls now too, so we'll be getting some nice foreign ladies-wait, are you and Anna still dating?"
"Nah, we fought last night. But I'm going to call her up at lunchtime and apologize," Scorpius shrugged and Al nodded. This was a perfectly common conversation concerning Anna, one of my best friends and Scorpius's on again, off again girlfriend. Anna Jacklyn was a very pretty blond, blue-eyed Gryffindor Seeker who I had befriended in my first year of Hogwarts, despite us being in different houses.
"Maybe we could secretly hold a bunch of competitions with them, like flying and stuff-y'know, kind of like the Triwizard-" Albus started in a low voice.
Molly Weasley, who was going into her 5th year, smacked him upside the head. "Albus!" She screeched, big blue eyes wide with terror. "Don't you even try that! Last time there was a Triwizard tournament Cedric Diggory died-"
"Oh come off it Mols, it's not actually going to be the tournament!" Albus scoffed, clapping her shoulder.
"You just fancy that Diggory boy anyway, don't you Molly? Landon, was he?"
"Shut up, Scorpius," Molly whispered, turning red.
"Oi! Leave Molly alone Malfoy, I could tell a few tales about you and Anna, you know," I reminded him, punching his shoulder.
"Cousin Roxie!" Scorpius broke into a grin, giving me a one-armed squeeze.
"DON'T call me Roxie, SCORPY," I growled, elbowing him playfully.
"Ooof," Scorpius exclaimed. "I say, Roxanne-"
"Melody!" I yelled loudly, catching sight of my best friend. Half the people on the street looked at me in distaste. I grinned happily and bolted toward my friend, and we collapsed into a giant hug.
"Oh, I missed you!" I exclaimed as we rocked back and forth, still hugging. "Don't you ever go on vacation again!" I exclaimed, smelling her wavy black hair carefully. "New shampoo?"
"Yup," she smiled, pulling back and grinning at me, blue eyes sparkling. "And you-my Merlin, your hair! What've you done to it?!" She yelled seizing a lock of it. "It's-it's-"
"Mildly curly?" I laughed. "Mom finally let me get it done. It's permanent."
"It's so long!" Melody yelled.
"Isn't it?! And you got tan!" I yelled back, and suddenly I realized that we were doing exactly what Scorpius and Al always did when they saw each other after not being together after a while.
"It's bonkers, I was completely burnt a couple days ago but then it faded into this!" She said excitedly. "Come on-time to go to Quality Quidditch Supplies!" We linked arms and made our way over to the shop.
"How's Rose?" She asked as we walked in, the bell above the door merrily announcing our arrival.
"Still stubborn. Can you believe she's taken Dom's side in this?" I sighed. Of course, Melody had already been owled the whole story concerning the wedding.
"She must be mental," Melody agreed. "But maybe it runs in the family...you are going to try and fly this year, right? We had a bet! You'd get on a broom if I asked Rose why she stopped hanging out with us in second year, you didn't want to because you 'didn't want your cousin mad at you over that again-'" she quoted.
"And I was right that she'd be mad too, wasn't I!" I said triumphantly. "I remember that, she didn't talk to you for weeks. I mean, more than she didn't already."
"All that over Scorpius, and neither Anna nor Rose would give it up-he's still oblivious, of course," Melody sighed, eye falling on the practice Quidditch set. "How much is this-twenty galleons!" Her eyes bugged out and she dropped the chest faster than you could say 'broomstick.'
"Birthday present!" I sang. Our family was not exactly rich; we both knew I'd never be able to afford that. In fact, every year coming to Diagon Alley and getting new things was a struggle. More often than not we used our cousins' old things. Mum worked at the Ministry of Magic registering Animagi, and Dad used to run a joke shop, but sold it a couple of years after Fred died. In fact, that was how my parents met, working in the shop. But after they were married, George closed it. He said it wasn't the same without Fred.
Now, Dad helped out Uncle Harry in the Auror's office.
"Look-we can actually try out the brooms now! They have some device so if you try to steal it, it'll come back to the store on its own!" I exclaimed, pointing to the new sign showing a grinning child flying up in the sky, with the Quidditch store in the background and all the workers waving at her from the ground like they were seeing her off on a journey.
"Wicked," Melody whispered. "Look-a two-seater broom! Oh, you're so coming with me," She laughed, plucking it off it's spot on the wall and bringing it to the front.
"We'd like to test out this broom, please-"
"No we wouldn't!" I sang, taking the broom out of Melody's hands. "We were just looking, sorry to bother you-"
"Are you scared, Roxanne?" Melody turned to me and said innocently.
"No!" I said quickly, knowing exactly was she was doing...but it was still working. Even though I was a Ravenclaw, when half of your family are Gryffindors, you learn to never admit that you're scared to do something. And you always take dares. Always.
"Fine, we'll try it out," I growled to the confused looking teenager whose name tag read HELLO! My name is GABRIEL! Ask me about testing one of our brooms!
Ha.
He took us outside and explained the anti-theft device, and how to work the controls on a two-seater. We'd both have to really be in sync. We explained that we'd been best friends for five years, so thinking together wasn't really a problem. Melody hopped anxiously from foot to foot, dying to get on, and I was dying to sneak away. I wasn't scared of heights, exactly, but ever since I'd witnessed someone fall off and break both their legs first year, it was all I could picture whenever I even went near a broom. It was definitely safe to say I would be perfectly fine with never mounting a broom in my life.
"Okay," I said shakily when the shop boy said we could get on whenever we were ready. "I'll go in front so you can steer," I said quickly, jumping on the front end of the broom, holding on for dear life, and closing my eyes. This broom was like a canoe, the guy had said. The person in back had 80 percent of the steering. I could feel the broom dip slightly when Melody climbed on, and I practically slid off the side. "How do you stay on this?!" I griped, tightening my hands and legs.
"Lean forward a bit, don't sit so stiff like that. Relax. It's not going to bite you in the butt." The boy snorted and laughed like he had just uttered the most hilarious joke in the history of funny.
"Ha, ha," I said, breathing in through my nose. "Okay. Let's just go. Go, and get this over with."
"Alright!" Melody said excitedly. "Looks like a perfect day to fly!"
"Yeah, but watch for those storm clouds to the north, they look like they might be nasty-"
"Whoooooo!" Suddenly Melody had pushed off the ground and we were zooming through the air. My hair was whipping backwards and I seized up with terror, absolutely frozen in fear.
"TAKE! ME! DOWN!" I screamed through clenched teeth, bending down lower on the broom so I could hug it tightly-the broom dipped down slowly and I practically slid of the end.
Screaming at the top of my lungs I righted myself quickly, sitting perfectly straight after that.
"This isn't funny!" I yelled back to Melody, who was laughing hysterically. I shut my eyes tight after that, letting Melody do the steering.
"Doesn't the wind in your face feel nice?" Melody tried to convince me.
"Sure," I said quickly, keeping my face up so I wouldn't be tempted to look down. Flying was so much easier than it looked. Until you got your balance, which took ages, it was a lot like walking on a tight rope. It constantly felt like I was about to fall, so I would make jerky movements to regain my balance and then I would end up overcorrecting, which made me get off center even more. "Did that guy say something about clouds?" I shouted behind me.
"Yeah, they're up ahead-we'll be fine though, we've just got to pull around them," Melody said calmly. "Do you think you can lean to the left a bit?"
"Sure," I said tightly, and tried to shift my weigh slightly. Melody did the same and the broom turned with surprising ease, and we curved around the dark grey cumulonimbus cloud towering in front of us. "There's more!" I yelled a warning. The next few moments we were silent, moving in synch to weave in and out of the clouds. In the distance, lightning flashed. I felt the hair on my arms lift with the tingle of electricity. "We've got to get out of this now," I said, and a loud peal of thunder exploded so loudly that my ears tingled and reverberated with the sound. "Let's go to the left. I see a forest over there, we'll be safe. The storm is moving the opposite direction. We can land there and figure out what to do."
"Okay," Melody said in a small voice, and my stomach swooped as we took a sharp turn to the right, narrowly missing flying through a cloud. We angled the broom down and turned on the speed.
My teeth chattered with cold, my hands numb from the temperature and gripping the broom so hard. By now, we were both completely soaked from the condensation in the air, and from the beginnings of the storm. I gasped as a new torrent of rain slapped me in the face, and rivulets of water streamed down my forehead and cheeks.
"Left!" I screamed. The now pouring rain was obstructing our vision, and I didn't see the cloud until it was right in front of us, looming forebodingly up just meters ahead. It was roughly the height of Hogwarts.
We continued our downward spiral, strong gusts of wind beginning to tug at our broom.
All at once, everything stopped. We were thrown out of the storm and into clear sky; soaked, shivering, and terrified. I looked back behind me to the wall of clouds we had just burst through; this and where we had just been were practically two different worlds, with nothing separating them.
"Okay?" I asked Melody, and she nodded shakily, tossing waterlogged hair out of her face. "Let's land here," I pointed down to a clearing in the lush, green forest. We slowed the broom and descended slowly down through the treetops, the sounds of birds singing and insects chirping blending together harmoniously. Wind whistled through the trees so calmly I could hardly believe we had just flown through the beginnings of a terrible storm.
"We're completely clear of it," Melody said in wonder as we landed. "It's going the opposite direction, back toward Diagon Alley!" The tips of our toes brushed the ground, and suddenly we were standing on solid land again.
"We lived!" I yelled, throwing the broom on the ground and grabbing Melody in a huge, wet hug. Our soaked robes were stuck to our wet bodies, and our hair was hanging limply around our faces.
"Yes!" Melody laughed, hugging me back. "Ouch!" She cried, yanking her foot up. "My foot!" I looked down in surprise to see blood rushing down from her ankle; her whole foot was caught in a patch of the nastiest looking thorns I'd ever seen. They were at least two inches long, with a horrid pointed tip.
"I'll pull you out, slowly," I said, taking her arms. She was standing on one foot and her eyes had welled up with tears. "Just-just hold onto my shoulders, I'm going to duck down and try to untangle you."
After several minutes of carefully working the thorns away, my hands had pricks all over them and Melody's foot was completely bloodied, her sandal torn.
"There," I sighed, and Melody hopped out.
"Look, this whole clearing's surrounded by thorns...we need to be getting back to Diagon Alley," Melody said, looking at the darkening sky. The full moon was rising and the sun were setting, a brilliant sunset lighting the heavens.
Gggggrrrrrrrrrr.
"Did you hear that?" I whispered frantically, grabbing Melody's arm. "That noise!"
"What?" She asked loudly, and I quickly shushed her. Was it just paranoia? Darkness did strange things to peoples' minds...beyond our small clearing the trees bent in toward us, and suddenly the wind didn't seem so calm anymore. It knocked the trees branches together, and the leaves whispered like they knew something we didn't. And then, the noise again. Louder this time.
Ggrrrrrrrrrrrrr-ahhhhr!
"Who's there?" Melody cried, patting her pockets for her wand. "Bloody hell- oh Godric-oh, Merlin-I've left my wand with my parents, it's in my bag! Tell me you've got your wand, Roxanne!" She whispered feverishly, looking intently into my eyes.
"No," I whispered, shaking my head. "But I think we'd better move to the broom in the middle of the clearing very, very quietly."
We locked arms solemnly. The branches in front of us, behind the patch of thorns, began to quiver. Something was moving in there. Melody was shaking, or maybe I was; we continued backing up, and each twig we snapped sounded like a peal of thunder.
Lightning flashed in the distance, and the clearing was lit for a split second. Melody inhaled sharply, letting out a harsh cry.
"What is it?" I whispered frantically, yanking her back further. "Bloody hell, where did we leave the damn broom? Where is it?" I asked frantically.
We were in trouble now.
"Here!" I screamed, breathing hard and fast in fright.
"Oh Merlin, it's a wo-" Merlody began
Grrrr.
"Roxanne!" Melody was breathing fast, her voice tight with terror. Suddenly, I felt the hot breath of an animal on my leg.
Of a wolf.
A\N Please review, I love to know what you all think!