A Gift Fic awarded to Tsu for their amazing work on the Ravenclaw team in Round Four of the Houses Competition!

edit: I know I had the wrong AN for this to start with but yay fixed now

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"Come on, it's not much further," James said, dragging Rose along with him by the hand. She shook him off, scowling. "It's not my fault you wandered off. That was all you."

James walked on ahead a little. Darkness shrouded them, only broken by the wand-light casting a faint yellow glow around them. He was clearly comfortable in the shadow; his house was too big and there was plenty of room there to grow from being scared. Rose was not the same. She was afraid of the dark, and more than this she was afraid of the things that were in the dark.

"I'm older than you, you know," she tried.

"No, you're really not," he parried.

He turned around in his path to look at her. Rose looked scared, her face oddly misshapen in the light around them. His wand-light flickered - unusual, or so he thought - and dimmed ever so slightly. Rose was intelligent, but for Merlin's sake why had she walked so far from the main Baskerville campsite? The rules had been pretty clear. Stay close. It was just beyond frustrating that she hadn't listened, and now they were in this situation. Stuck in the dark, not totally certain of the route back, with limited magical resources. James Sirius Potter would not admit that he was not totally comfortable being in the dark - certainly not to someone who would repeat this fact.

"What's that?" Rose asked sharply, her eyes caught on something behind him that he couldn't see. He raised an eyebrow. She was obviously trying to bait him. Humouring her, he turned, and then froze. Cold blood ran through his veins, and ice filled his heart. "It's not a patronus," Rose said, continuing.

"Yes, I can see that," James said.

It looked almost like a patronus. It was uncanny. The air around it was glowing, shimmering, like a patronus. But… But… It was enormous. He had never known anything quite like it. Larger than a bear. He was sure that his father would have some sort of explanation with a creature he had battled, and that Rose's mother would know of some lore that could pinpoint the origins of it. For now, however, neither of them were there. It was him and Rose, against some quickly-approaching Hell Hound.

"Maybe it's one of those will o' wisps," Rose suggested, a quaking in her voice.

"Yes, and maybe it's Cerberus, but I don't really fancy finding out," James said sarcastically. He looked around quickly and, seeing no one, cast a muffliato charm on the both of them. "Slowly, quietly. We have to move past it."

"Fine."

James Sirius and Rose both sucked in breaths and cast their way through the dark. The creature followed them, snuffing around in the shadows. Every so often they caught sight of it. Jaws and claws and paws, larger than anything they had ever imagined.

When they finally reached the campsite, neither one of their parents seemed worried. Not even when Rose shouted that they had seen the Hound of Baskerville. In fact, Hermione just smiled and asked if she had been reading Sherlock.

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Thanks for reading!