Padfoot's Puppy

Chapter Four

'Caught'

For the next few days, Amber stayed inside to cabin, too afraid to leave. She knew that whoever had chased her was probably still out there, just waiting for her to return to the forest. Though she hadn't heard much, she'd heard some of what they'd been talking about, and from the sounds of it, they were the enemy.

Finally though, Amber could take it no longer, she had to go outside. Narcissa gave her an endless amount of chores, while Lucius would give her a painful whack with his cane whenever she walked by him.

Amber decided that risking the chance of being caught was better than being stuck with Narcissa and Lucius for one more minute. Either way, she was going to be with people she didn't like, and who didn't like her.

Towards dusk, Amber snuck out of the cabin. She decided that she would only go to the rocky cliff, and stay for about an hour. She'd be back before dark, and before Narcissa and Lucius would notice that she was gone.

It wasn't hard to sneak out, Lucius and Narcissa weren't the most alert people out there, and Amber had learned how to walk like a cat. It came from countless times of sneaking out to get away from all the hectic commotion that went on. Occasionally, Draco would sneak out with Amber, and the two of them would wander around the town for hours on end, playing pranks on the townspeople, and just having a good time. Draco was the closest thing Amber had to a friend. Draco and Mister, but Amber was sure Mister wouldn't really be feeling all that nice to her after she threw that rock at him.

Amber ran pretty much the whole way to the cliff. She was eager to get there and just think, something she rarely had time for with Narcissa and Lucius around.

With a sigh, Amber turned her thoughts to the strange meeting between the group of people. They had known both Lucius and Draco, and Amber had gotten the impression that they didn't like either one. That had to mean that the four people were the enemy, the Death Eaters all like Lucius, and they wouldn't dare say anything bad about Draco.

Soon, Amber was at the cliff. She was naturally fast, but being inside for the past few days had given her what seemed like an endless supply of energy.

The sight of the familiar cliff immediately calmed Amber down. It was her favorite place in the world, and when she was there, Amber felt like nothing could touch her. As though she was safe from all the chaos spreading everywhere else.

Amber had intended to sit at the top of the cliff and watch the sunset, something she and her mother used to do, but Amber hadn't yet reached the cliff when she heard a low growl. Turning around slowly, Amber was surprised to see Mister standing at the edge of the rocks.

"Mister…" Amber whispered, letting her voice trail off. She felt horrible for hitting the dog with a rock. She wanted him to know that she was sorry, though she knew he wouldn't understand.

"Mister I-" She started, getting cut off by a snarl from Mister. Slowly, with his eyes locked on Amber, the dog moved forward, his teeth bared.

"Mister?" Amber said fearfully, backing up a few steps. The dog advanced forward, his unblinking eyes staring straight into Amber's terrified ones.

Amber backed up some more, until she was back up against the cliff. Moving a little quicker, the dog advanced some more on her, growling menacingly.

One thing her mother had taught Amber was that bravery was a great thing, but sometimes it was better to just run. This was one of those times.

Turning quickly, Amber started to scramble up the cliff, but she hadn't even gotten a third of the way up before she felt a sharp pain in her right leg. Then she was falling. Amber screamed as she hit the ground.

Amber rolled onto her back, and almost screamed again. Mister was gone, and in his place was a gaunt man with wild brown eyes. He had knotty black hair and a wide grin.

"Get over!" He grunted, pushing Amber onto her stomach. He covered her mouth with his hand, and Amber was too surprised to struggle. So Mister was really an Animagus. That explained so much, why she had seen the pity in his eyes, why he had seemed so human.

"Now don't make a sound!" The man said. Slowly, he uncovered Amber's mouth, and she felt him change back into the dog. Too terrified to move or make a sound, Amber waited in terror for what was to come.

Throwing back his head, the big black dog let out a howl that sent chills up Amber's spine. She knew what it was though; it was a call, or a signal, letting someone know that he had her. Horrified, Amber realized that this must be one of the people she had seen a few days earlier.

In a second, the dog changed back into the man, and he pulled Amber so that she was on her knees. He covered her mouth again, and pulled her backwards, so that she was sitting on him.

"You know, it's a pity it had to come to this. If you had just stayed near the cliff, we wouldn't have to take you. Though of course since you seem to know Lucius Malfoy, we actually might have had to." The man was saying in a cheerful voice. Amber was confused. Why would the man be happy about catching her? Wasn't he going to kill her, isn't that what usually happened to people who overheard conversations?

"We don't know who you are though, which is strange. I know for sure that Lucius doesn't have another kid, and besides, you don't look anything like him. You can't be a pureblood, I know most of them around here, and none of them have a daughter your age." The man continued. Amber couldn't help it; she rolled her eyes at him. She was surprised that she wasn't really all that scared. She was a little bit, but what could these people do to her that was worse than would happen if she stayed with Lucius?

"Remus should be here by now!" The man said, more to himself than to Amber. By now, it was starting to set in that she had actually been caught. She still wasn't that frightened, but Amber knew that she had to fight to get away. She started struggling, and immediately the man tightened his grip on her.

"Oh no you don't, there is no way you are getting away! I could chase you down in a second!" The man said, a hint of laughter to his voice. Amber ignored him and continued on struggling. This time, the man laughed out loud.

"You defiantly can't be related to Lucius. He's a coward and a snake, there's no way he'd be fighting me right now." The man said, his voice hinting that he was enjoying watching Amber try to get away. Trying her hardest to ignore him, Amber continued struggling, and she ended up kicking the man in the knee. It wasn't very affective, he didn't even flinch.

"Nice try, but you've got to be stronger than that!" He said, his voice taunting Amber. Amber narrowed her eyes and finally noticed, his hand was in a perfect position for her to…

"OW!" The man cried, jumping up and letting go of Amber. Amber fell to the ground, and immediately scrambled to her feet. The man was holding the hand that Amber just bit, and was glaring at her. Amber didn't wait to see what happened, she turned and bolted.

CRACK! Right in front of her, someone suddenly apparated, causing Amber to run right into them.

"What the…" The man said, grabbing Amber's arm. Amber felt like crying in frustration, she just couldn't win! The man had short sandy brown hair and brown eyes. He looked dead-tired, but he had more strength than Amber had expected.

"Is this the girl?" He asked, looking at the Animagus. The Animagus nodded, still holding his hand as he glared at Amber. The sandy-haired man smiled.

"What happened?" He asked, completely ignoring Amber as she struggled to get away from him.

"She bit me!" The Animagus said. The sandy-haired man laughed, but when the Animagus glared at him, he looked down at Amber, trying to hide his smile. When his eyes met Amber's though, his smile vanished.

"We better get out of here before someone comes looking for her." He said softly, not taking his eyes away from Amber's. The Animagus nodded, and in a second he transformed into the big black dog. Amber glared at him, furious that she hadn't figured out what the dog really was sooner.

"Come on, let's go." The sandy-haired man said. He wrapped his arms around Amber, and holding onto her, he disapparated. As Amber felt like she was being split in two, she finally realized that this could be it.

Author's Note: I'm sorry about taking so long to update, I'm really bad about that… I hope you guys still like this story…