Mia Potter was the other Potter. Looking almost identical to her mother, she was a force to be reckoned with. But there was only one person who could reckon with her, and his name was Draco Malfoy.
In which the youngest Potter twin finds herself fa...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
✴ ✴ ✴ ✴
Crookshanks had slid into it with a flick of his bottlebrush tail. Mia went next. She crawled forward, headfirst, and slid down an earthy slope to the bottom of a very low tunnel. Crookshanks was a little way along, his eyes flashing in the light from Harry's wand. Seconds later, Harry and Hermione slithered down beside her.
"Where's Ron?" she whispered in a terrified voice.
"This way," said Mia, setting off, bent-backed, after Crookshanks.
"Where does this tunnel come out?" Hermione asked breathlessly from behind him.
"I don't know," Mia said, "it's marked on the Marauder's Map but Fred and George said no one's ever gotten into it. It goes off the edge of the map, but it looked like it was heading for Hogsmeade. . . ."
They moved as fast as they could, bent almost double; ahead of them, Crookshanks's tail bobbed in and out of view. On and on went the passage; it felt at least as long as the one to Honeydukes. All Mia could think of was Ron and what the enormous dog might be doing to him. She was drawing breath in sharp, painful gasps, running at a crouch.
And then the tunnel began to rise; moments later it twisted, and Crookshanks had gone. Ahead Mia could see a patch of dim light through a small opening. The trio paused, gasping for breath, edging forward. Both raised their wands to see what lay beyond.
It was a room, a very disordered, dusty room. Paper was peeling from the walls; there were stains all over the floor; every piece of furniture was broken as though somebody had smashed it. The windows were all boarded up.
Mia glanced at Harry and Hermione, who looked very frightened but nodded.
Mia pulled herself out of the hole, staring around. The room was deserted, but a door to their right stood open, leading to a shadowy hallway.
"The Shrieking Shack," Mia said, looking around and her eyes fell on a wooden chair near them. Large chunks had been torn out of it. One of the legs had been ripped off entirely.
"Ghosts didn't do that," Harry said slowly.
At that moment, there was a creak overhead. Something had moved upstairs. All three of them looked up at the ceiling.
Quietly as they could, they crept out into 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.
They reached the dark landing.
"Nox," they whispered together, and the lights at the end of their wands went out.
Only one door was open. As they crept toward it, they heard movement from behind it; a low moan, and then a deep, loud purring. They exchanged a last look, a last nod. Eyes glowing red, Mia kicked the door wide open.
