Mermaid at Hogwarts: Ginny Weasley Fanfic

CHAPTER FIVE

HOLLY'S POV

I run out the classroom as fast as I can, trying to block out my friend's shouts. I ignore the weird stares I'm getting from running through the corridors and make my way outside to the Hogwarts' grounds slamming the door behind me.

Outside, I head to the large oak tree that stands 10 minutes away from the school building near the black lake.

I finally arrive and slump down by the trunk of the tree and let warm salty tears trickle down my face as I think back to Bellatrix's evil grinning face in the DADA classroom.

It is stupid to stay here, I know this as I will have to face the others soon anyway- they are sure to have questions. I groan at the thought of this, not wanting to revisit that awful night of my parents death.

After calming down for a couple minutes, I tense, sensing another presence. I whip my heap around expecting to see a nosy student, however instead I see a large, scruffy black dog watching me interestedly from near the bushes. When I turn to him, he jumps back, growling slightly but then he yelps, lifting his front right paw.

I instantly feel bad for the dog and walk a couple paces towards it before kneeling and gazing at it intently. The dog watches me wearily out of its big brown eyes waiting for me to move.
I reach into my bag and find my breakfast from this morning sitting there in a small brown bag- I didn't have enough time to eat earlier.
I pull out a piece of toast and hold it flat on my palm out to the dog, staying completely quiet and still until he gingerly pads over sniffing the food before gobbling it down.

I giggle at the dog's eagerness and slowly feed him the rest of the bag's contents.
'Episky!' I quickly fix his hurt leg.
After, the dog licks my cheek making me laugh and curls up by me with his head rested on my lap.

We sit there silently with me just stoking his head gently.
My happiness is soon clouded as I think back to the previous events of today and a single tear falls down my cheek and onto the dogs head making him look up.

Noticing my crying, he sits and licks my cheek again, almost willing me to tell him what was wrong. I smile sadly at him and sigh,
'Well as long as you're listening I might as well tell you what's wrong- after all , you can't tell anyone.' And so I start to explain.

'We were studying boggarts- things that turn into your biggest fear- and when I did it Bellatrix Lestrange appeared ( the dog seemed to show interest in this as he cocked his head to one side) everyone stared at me and I couldn't cast the spell to get rid of it; i was too scared. I'm not surprised people were staring.' I snort at myself, 'I mean, not only was my boggart a deatheater, but it also kept changing to water,' I turn to look the dog in the eye, 'water isn't really my biggest fear, I just avoid it when I'm around people because of... well, complications.'

It looks for a second as if the dog is raising his eyebrow at me but I shake the thought off due to the ludicrousness of the idea and turn to look into the distance. The dog whines softly making me look his way again.

'She killed my parents,' I whisper hoarsely, 'Bellatrix did, she killed my mum in front of me as well. They were both killed when I was 6.'

The dog looks at me sadly with a slight tinge of anger in his eyes and nudged my shoulder comfortingly before slipping his head under my arm so it rests on my thigh.

We sit like this for a while until I realise
I should probably head back to the castle. I get up making the dog go alert again. I grin at him,
'I think you need a name, hmm, what about Pads? You are very good at sneaking up on people.' The dog wags his tail happily and i may be imagining it, but he looks quite shocked at my name choice.

Leaning down i stoke him gently,
'I'll come see you as often  as I can Pads.' To which Pads wags his tail once more and then goes scurrying into the hedgerow.

————————————————————————————————————————
A/N
I know this chapter is pretty shit but It's cos did it quickly so my apologies on that. I'll try and write more soon❤️