Ember. It means fire. Ember was never safe. Even before she was born she was coverted. Hunted. She's the last of her kind. Once there were many. Once there were four. Four families. One for each element. Air. Water. Earth. Fire. Every other family e...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
Harry and Ember did not want to tell the others that both of them and Luna were having the same hallucination, if that was what it was, so they said nothing more about the horses as the dior of the carriage slammed shut. Nevertheless, they could not help watching the silhouettes of the horses moving beyond the window. Ember and Harry kept glancing nervously at each other.
"Did everyone see that Grubbly-Plank woman?" asked Ginny. "What's she doing back here? Hagrid can't have left, can he?"
"Absolutely not. He loves Hogwarts. He'd never leave . . . not forever, at least. Something else has to be up." Ember said with confidence, though she looked worried.
''Well, I'll be quite glad if he has," said Luna, "he isn't a very good teacher, is he?"
"Yes, he is!" said Harry, Ron, Ember and Ginny angrily.
Harry glared at Hermione. She cleared her throat and quickly said, "Erm . . . yes . . . he's very good."
"Smooth." Ember mouthed to Hermione.
Hermione stuck her tongue out at Ember in response. Ember did it back.
"Well, we in Ravenclaw think he's a bit of a joke," said Luna, unfazed.
"You've got a rubbish sense of humour then," Ron snapped, as the wheels below them creaked into motion.
Luna did not seem perturbed by Ron's rudeness; on the contrary, she simply watched him for a while as though he were a mildly interesting television programme.
Rattling and swaying, the carriages moved in convoy up the road. When they passed between the tall stone pillars topped with winged boars on either side of the gates to the school grounds, Harry leaned forwards to try and see whether there were any lights on in Hagrid's cabin by the Forbidden Forest, but the grounds were in complete darkness.
"Anything?" Ember asked.
Harry shook his head.
"Where is he?" Ember said, mainly to herself.
Hogwarts Castle, however, loomed ever closer: a towering mass of turrets, jet black against the dark sky, here and there a window blazing fiery bright above them.
The carriages jingled to a halt near the stone steps leading up to the oak front doors and Harry got out of the carriage first. He turned again to look for lit windows down by the Forest, but there was definitely no sign of life within Hagrid's cabin. Unwillingly, because he had half - hoped they would have vanished, he turned his eyes instead upon the strange, skeletal creatures standing quietly in the chill night air, their blank white eyes gleaming.
"Let's just forget about it for now. We'll figure it out. We always do." Ember said, not sure who she was trying to reassure her.
Harry frowned but nodded, his mind else where. Ember couldn't help but stare at the horses too.
