✔️ 𝐏𝐑𝐎𝐓𝐄𝐆𝐎 → ℎ. 𝑝𝑜𝑡𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑡𝑤𝑖𝑛 𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑦

28 | N E V E R M O R E

we hang side by side.

   "Harry! Harry, look at me!"

   Ember's trembling hands grabbed Harry's shoulders, shaking him until emerald green eyes pierced into her own hazel ones, and he seemed to hold his breath.

   "Okay now, let's — let's please look at this again, before we run into our own death, yeah?" She tried to hold her voice as calm as possible, but that wasn't easy at all. Her own fear wasn't less devastating than Harry's; because if Sirius was really captured by Voldemort —

   She quickly shook her head to get rid of that thought, before she said, "I don't feel okay with this. It feels pretty wrong to be honest! I — I think it is a trap."

   Ember exchanged a quick look with Hermione, obviously the only one smelling that fishy smell hanging in the air.

   "It is not", Harry spat, shrugging off Ember's hands. "Kreacher said —"

   "And you believe him?", Ember replied, her voice shaky. Eyes fixed on the crusted blood on Harry's face, she tried to figure out a way to get him to listen to her. "What if he lied?"

   "Ember, Sirius is getting tortured while we're discussing your bad vibes", he angryly snorted, looking straight into her face. "I'm going."

   "We're going", said Ron, stepping next to Harry. "The question is how."

   "Well, we'll have to fly, won't we?", said Luna, in the closest thing to a matter-of-fact voice Ember had ever heard her use. 

   "Okay", said Harry irritably, rounding on her. "First of all, we aren't doing anything if you're including yourself in that, and second of all, Ron's me only one with a broomstick that isn't being guarded by a security troll, so—"

   "I've got a broom!", said Ginny. 

   "Yeah, but you're not coming", said Ron angrily.

   "Can we please return to discussing that this is a stupid idea?", Ember snapped, as Ginny opened her mouth to fight Ron. The Hufflepuff turned towards Harry, a pleading in her eyes. "Harry, if this is a trap ... We need to make sure ..."

   "And how could we? Dumbledore's gone, McGonagall is gone, Hagrid is gone!", Harry barked, looking desperate. "Snape didn't give a damn, and I'm freaking sure he got my hint! So what shall I do, Em? Sit here and let him die? He's our family!"

   Biting her bottom lip until it hurt, Ember's mind was spinning faster and faster, getting her dizzy.

   "Well, it doesn't matter, anyway", said Harry through gritted teeth, "because we still don't know how to get there —"

   "I thought we'd settled that", said Luna maddeningly. "We're flying!"

   "Look", said Ron, barely containing his anger, "you might be able to fly without a broomstick but the rest of us can't sprout wings whenever we —"

   "There are ways of flying other than with broomsticks", said Luna serenely. 

   "I s'pose we're going to ride on the back of the Kacky Snorgle or whatever it is?", Ron demanded. 

   "The Crumple-Horned Snorkack can't fly", said Luna in a dignified voice, "but they can, and Hagrid says they're very good at finding places their riders are looking for."

   Harry whirled round. "Yes", he whispered, taking several steps forward. He stretched out his hand, fingers striding the air, and Ember watched him, tilting her head, for a second wondering if Harry had lost his mind; until it dropped.

   "Is it those mad horse things?", said Ron uncertainly, staring at Harry just like Ember did, in utter confusion. "Those ones you can't see unless you've watched someone snuff it?"

   "Two of them", Harry replied with a nod.

   "Well, we need three", said Hermione, who was looking a little shaken, but determined just the same. 

   "Four, Hermione", said Ginny, scowling. 

   "I think there are seven of us, actually", said Luna calmly.

   "Don't be stupid, we can't all go!", said Harry angrily. "Look, you three —" he pointed at Neville, Ginny and Luna, "you're not involved in this."

   Then he turned towards Ember, opening his mouth, but she already knew what he was about to tell her, so with a grim expression on her pale face, she cut him off. "Don't even try to tell me to stay behind. I'm coming with you."

   "It's too dangerous", Harry replied, shaking his head bewildered. "Stay here. Try to contact the Order —"

   "No way!"

   She could see the war going on behind those green eyes. Turning towards the Thestrals — or where Ember assumed them to be — Harry's shoulders tensed even more.  "Okay, fine, it's your choice", he said curtly, "But unless there aren't more Thestrals you're not going to be able —"

   "Oh, more of them will come", said Ginny confidently.

   "What makes you think that?"

   "Because, in case you hadn't noticed, you and Hermione are both covered in blood", she said coolly, "and we know Hagrid lures Thestrals with raw meat. That's probably why these two turned up in the first place."

   "OK, then", Harry said, looking like a bright idea was occurring in his mind, "Ron and I will take these two and go ahead, and Hermione can stay here with you three and she'll attract more Thestrals —"

   "I'm not staying behind!" said Hermione furiously. 

   "There's no need", said Luna, smiling. "Look, here come more now ... you two must really smell ..."

   Harry turned, and Ember saw his face drop; he had no excuses left.

   "How many?", she asked, stepping closer to Harry.

   "Six", he quietly replied, then slowly turning towards his sister, he said, "You could go and send an owl to Remus or Moody or —" But Ember shook her head.

   "I am with you", she plainly spoke, crossing her arms.

   "But there's one Thestral —"

   "Harry James Potter, don't you dare to leave me behind!", Ember growled, feeling her temper rising, and the well known twist in the pit of her stomach, as what she'd managed to surpress for such a long time, now was fighting for the upper hand. "Not this time!"

   "But they're only six —"

   "She can come with me." Ron's voice seemed to echo in her head, and immediately she felt her shadows stop turning her insides like a hurricane. "Little midget here won't hardly be recognised by that crazy horse thing. She can ride with me."

   For a second, Ember was sure Harry would run his fist into Ron's face. The look he threw his best friend was murderous.
  
   "All right", he instead said angrily, "pick one and get on, then."

—