AN IDLE HEART ✷ Ron Weasley.

𝟬𝟱. the black dog

01. — 05.

✷

Astrid liked the mornings at Hogwarts best. She liked the way everything was dipped in orange sunlight when the sun rose behind the great landscape of Hogwarts. She liked how eternal everything seemed — How if you stared outside for long enough, you felt like you could see beyond the world.

She watched silently as the castle in front of her came to life, windows opening and lights flickering on. She listened to the murmurs from the castles and the chirping of the birds and for a moment, just a moment, Astrid felt at home. Like something would always be okay if she was at Hogwarts.

Astrid had only gotten an hour of sleep after her run-in with the two professors before another nightmare had her sitting up in her bed, shaking and gasping for air. The next few hours she had spend starring up at the ceiling until it was five and she heard Oliver Wood bumping into something in the Common Room on his way to his usual morning jog. After a quick shower, she had cozied up in one of her oversized Quidditch hoodies over her school skirt and gone out to watch the sunrise from the edge of the Forbidden Forest.

She shivered slightly against the breeze of the wind — The unusal hot and sunny Summer had come to a quick halt all of the sudden and autumn had arrived cold and rainy. Burying herself deeper in her hoodie, she let her gaze wander, stopping when her eyes landed on a dog hidden behind a tree. A thin body with shaggy, black fur and light eyes starring right at her.

"Hey, you...", she smiled, hesitantly holding one hand out for it to come near. The dog trodded towards her with shaky legs, whimpering ever so slightly.

"Did Hagrid get another one or who do you belong to?", she whispered to it as the dog's head softly landed in her lap, "Man, you're not gonna answer, are you? That's okay, I can entertain us both. You know I always wanted a dog, but my stupid godfather didn't let me. Can you imagine? He said they were a hassle."

The dog barked, sounding almost like a human laugh.

"Astrid!"

Her head snapped up to find Oscar jogging towards her. He was in his Slytherin robes and his black curls were flying with the wind, "Osc!", she yelled back in the same tone. The dog in her lap winced loudly, as Oscar crouched down in front of them.

"I knew I would find you here— your friends have been searching for you. Ron himself even came up to me to ask me if I've seen you.", he said, sitting down in the grass with a sigh.

"And you obviously didn't bother to tell them, where I am."

"Where would be the fun in that? I want you all to myself.", he scoffed, putting one hand on her thigh jokingly. Suddenly the dog leaped up, angrily barking at Oscar, "What the fuck? What's that?"

"It's a dog, Osc. Are you that stupid?", Astrid mocked, softly stroking the dog behind its ear to calm it down.

"Well I know what a dog is, I just don't know why it hates me, Astrid!", he shrieked, quickly moving backwards.

"Probably because it loves me and your obviously my archenemy.", she joked as the dog sat back down next to her.

"Well, I don't know what you've two got going on, but we should probably head to our first lesson.", Oscar said with a look to his watch, "Here," he added, taking a piece of paper out of his bag, "Hermione got me your timetable. Seems like you've got to go to Divination without your things."

"Like I ever had anything with me.", Astrid scoffed, as she got up on her feet again, dusting herself off. The dog was still standing next to her, starring up at Astrid with kind eyes, "But what are we gonna do about Snuffles?"