Together (A Harry Potter love story) 3

55

MILLIES POV

I looked around. My eyes fell on a wooden chair near us. Large chunks had been torn out of it; one of the legs had been ripped off entirely.

Harry, following my gaze, muttered, "Ghosts didn't do that..."

At that moment, there was a creak overhead. Something had moved upstairs. I looked up at the ceiling. Mione's grip on my arm was so tight I was losing feeling in my fingers.

I reached up and rubbed the fresh cut underneath my eye. "We should-"

"-let's go," Harry interrupted me, walking forward. Mione raised her eyebrows at me but I just rolled my eyes and followed the boy, glaring at the back of his head.

We made our way out of the hall and up the crumbling staircase. Everything was covered in a thick layer of dust except the floor, where a wide, shiny stripe had been made by something being dragged upstairs. My breath caught in my throat as I stared down at it, trying not to picture what Ron was looking like right now.

We reached the dark landing.

"Put your wand light out," Harry whispered to me, not sparing me a glance.

"Yes, sir," I muttered sarcastically, but obliged. "Nox."

The light at the end of my wand went out. Only one door was open. As we crept towards it, I heard movement from behind it; a low groan, then a deep, loud purring. Harry looked behind him at Mione, then at me. I raised my eyebrows as he lifted his hand and placed it underneath my chin, gently guiding it into a nod. He smirked, nodding his head in return, before turning back around and kicking the door wide open.

Trying to shake that highly attractive moment from my head, I peered inside. On a magnificent four-poster bed with dusty hangings, lay Crookshanks, purring loudly at the sight of us. On the floor beside him, clutching his leg, which stuck out at a strange angle, was Ron.

Harry dashed across to him, and Mione and I instantly followed.

"Ron!" I cried, crouching down next to him.

"Are you okay?" Mione whispered frantically, eyeing his leg anxiously.

"Where's the dog?" Harry hissed. I noticed his hand was wrapped very tightly around his wand.

"Not a dog," Ron moaned. His teeth were gritted with pain. "Harry, it's a trap-"

"What...?"

It suddenly felt as though my stomach had done a triple backflip. Everything clicked into place in that one moment-

"Erm, actually..." Lupin stepped forward, elbowing Dad to do the same. "Another practice question... just to make sure...Millie, have you seen a black dog around anywhere? Quite big, fairly scruffy..."

I frowned. "Yes."

Both Dad and Lupin's eyes widened, while everyone else looked as confused as I felt.

"Where? When? Did you talk to him?" Dad asked, rubbing his eyes frantically.

"Him?" Dumbledore repeated.

"Him, it, whatever," said Dad absentmindedly, his attention fixed solely on me.

"By the Black Lake," I answered automatically, "on the night of the thirty-first of December. I told him how Snape gave me three months of detention-"

"He what?" Dad cried, whipping his head round to Snape, who, for the first time that night, was smiling.

"Never mind, Jake," said Professor McGonagall quickly, shaking her head. "I let her off."