Chapter 3

Hermione immediately sank to the ground and sat on a heap of snow.

"Oh, no," she echoed Ron, her voice shaking, her face in her hands. She compeletely ignored the fact that her bottom was getting wet.

"We need to find it, now," Harry said seriously, his eyes still scanning the place. The fire was still burning underneath the simmering cauldron.

"Where, though?" Ron asked. He wanted to tell Hermione off for not listening to him but since she was in such despair he decided to let it go.

"I dunno," Harry said. "You shouldn't have come to get me, Snape was about to let me out."

"But I don't know how it could have escaped I put a full Body-Bind curse on it," Hermione sobbed.

"Yeah, well there's no point crying now because that won't solve anything," Harry said angrily. He expected Hermione to look affronted and start defending herself but she stood up, dried her backside with her wand, wiped her tears and marched to the trapdoor.

"Let's go, we're wasting time," she said shakily to the other two, holding the Invisibilty cloak out in front of her to let them get under it, as she had done before. Harry and Ron drew their wands and let the Cloak engulf them.

They went down the spiral staircase and skirted along a corridor lined with suits of armor. The Hevera could have been anywhere, hiding, lurking behind an ugly gargoyle, poised to attack. They weren't sure if it could see through Invisibility Cloaks and this made them uneasy. Harry's mind started racing again. What if it kills someone, an unaware student or an oblivious teacher? They hurried through the halls, their senses working madly, their wands at the ready. No Hevera. It's when they passed Pansy Parkinson and Ernie MacMillan kissing ferociously behind a tall suit of armor that they decided to go to Dumbledore.

"We don't have a choice or else it'll attack them" Harry whispered.

"Ugh, Pansy Parkinson? Of all the girls he's snogging that cow!"Hermione said, repulsed.

"Just like you went snogging Krum and Malfoy," Ron muttered.

"I did NOT snog Malfoy. He snogged me," Hermione hissed, hurt.

"Stop,"Harry interrupted Ron. "Can we just go to Dumbledore?"

They made their way in angry silence through dark passages to Dumbledore's office and soon they arrived in front of the gargoyle.

"Er," Harry said. He didn't know the password.

"Don't you know the password?"Hermione asked Harry. She was still in some kind of frightenned state but she was forcing herself to be level-headed.

"No."

Ron started saying series of names of sweets to the stone gargoyle from Flavored Beans to Fizzing Whizzbee. When he said Enchanting Eclairs, it came to life, leapt aside and showed them a wall splitting in two to reveal an escalting staircase. They jumped onto it and started moving upwards to a shiny oak door.

Hermione knocked gently on the door and Dumbledore's voice said, "Come in" sharply. They took off the Cloak, stuffed it Ron's jacket and entered.

He sat behind his desk in his round office, an old man with a long beard. His blue eyes looked at them seriously.

"Professor Dumbledore, a Hevera has just escaped and is within the school!" Harry blurted out before he could stop himself.

Dumbledore stood up, walked over to them so that he was a polite distance away and said, "Is it within the school or it has gone out of its boundaries?"

Harry looked at him and marvelled at how calm Dumbledore was being. Also, he thought of the possibility that the Hevera might have escaped the school.

Just then a scream, a cry of help travelled across the whole castle and reverberated againts its stony walls. Hermione gasped and Professor Dumbledore, looking very grave, said, "Put that cloak on and go fetch Professor Hagrid!" before storming out of the room, his wand drawn.

Please tell me what you think of the story by posting a review. Thanks.