Slytherin:Fire

Prologue

 Ron was walking with Harry and Hermione in the Forbidden Forest. It was 12am and Sirius told them to meet him at Mystic River. 

 The bitter wind was tearing the skin from their faces. Howling in laughter at their struggle to walk against the wind. 

 They were all under the invisibility cloak. Ron was getting a little to tall to fit with Harry and Hermione. If he was under by himself it would be fine, but he had people with him and if he stood up the cloak would be lifted off them.

 Ron saw something in the distance and got entranced by it. Without thinking he ducked out of the cloak and silently dashed over to it.

 Hermione and Harry shared a look and ran after him. There was nobody there but them and hopefully Sirius, so they just threw the invisibility cloak off and Harry held it under his arm.

 Ron got to the movement that caught his eyes. Harry and Hermione came up behind him panting. 'Woah." Ron thought. His eyes widened and shined at the fiery thing.

 He moved and reached his hand out, but just before his hand touched it, it sparked and the wind blew it out.

 Ron shook his head and he was out of his trance, "That was...weird." He concluded in his head.

 There was a rustling in a bush near by and a big black dog jumped out. He turned human and was standing right where the fire was just before.

 "Ron what were you doing?" Hermione asked walking over to Sirius and hugging him.

 "I- did..." Ron couldn't seem to find the words. He was confused about what just happened. He did it without thinking. He was memorized. Maybe even hypnotized.

 "Did you- did you guys see that?" He finally got out. He stared at Sirius' feet that were right were the fire was.

 "Haha, you sound like me in second year." Harry chuckled before running over to Sirius and slightly pushing Hermione out of his way.

 Sirius pushed the sixteen year olds off him and looked down at Harry. "Yeah, but wasn't there something actually wrong back then? And didn't you actually hear something? Maybe Ron did see something." 

 This time Ron wasn't upset that they were talking about him when he was right there. He was too busy thinking about the fire. "Were the sparks that came out of it silver or am I going crazy? Was it even there? From what they're saying, they didn't see it. But, Harry heard something in second year and we didn't... I'm so confused." Ron thought shoving his hands in and out of his pockets.

 "Ron?" Hermione said softly breaking Ron out of his thoughts.

 "Huh?" He looked up at Hermione and Harry who were looking really worried. Worried. Not concerned. Meaning that they were scared that something bad was happening, not about Ron.

 "What did you see." Sirius didn't really ask it, he demanded for Ron to tell him what he saw. The wind died down a bit, it was only faintly breathing. The cold didn't go though.

 "Fire..." Ron said uncertain. He didn't know if there was the sparks or even if what he saw was fire.

 "Ronald." Hermione whispered firmly. She wanted to believe Ron, but the tone of his voice was not convincing.

 "I think it was fire?" Ron rubbed his neck and shifted uncomfortably on his feet, moving the weight from one to the other.

 Sirius took out a vile filled with a white liquid and dunked it in Ron's mouth. It burned his throat and his chest was burning. 

 "Padfoot, do you just carry around Veritaserum?" Harry asked as Sirius pocketed the now empty vile.

 "Sirius! You gave him the while thing! It's going to stay on for months if you don't have the antidote! Which I'm sure you don't!" Hermione exclaimed running over to Ron and checking his chest and mouth.

 "It's fine, Hermione." He gave her a sympathetic look, but when he turned back to Ron it went hard again. "What did you see."

 "Fire with silver sparks." Ron answered truthfully. If you could say that since he had no idea if that's what he actually saw or not.

 Sirius' expression softened and he slightly smiled. "Hermione's right. I don't have the antidote and we can't just ask Snape for it. He'll get suspicious."

 Ron stiffened, Harry and Hermione looked at him sympathetically. The wind blew harder than before and a branch snapped. It fell with a thud right next to Sirius' foot.

 Sirius moved his foot quickly and sighed. "Ok. Well i asked for you to meet me here for a reason."

 Ron tuned them out. He stared at the reflection of the moon on Mystic River. Suddenly Ron saw something shimmer in the water. He slowly walked towards it and reached his hand out. A pure black cat jumped out, water dripping from its fur coat. "Book~" the cat meowed, Ron somehow heard words.

 It dunked its head back in the water and when it pulled back out there was a black package. "There's a book in here?" Ron questioned quietly. The cat moved its head in a nod.

 Ron reached out and gently rubbed the cat's fur, his hand getting wet in the process. "Ron?" A girl's voice said from behind Ron. He shoved the book in the bag he had brought and the cat had already leaped into the water again.

 "Hm?" He hummed, standing up and wiping his hands on his robes.

 "We gotta get back. Sirius just wanted to let us know that we're going to the Order's headquarters for Christmas break. Also he's sorry about the Veritaserum." Hermione rubbed the back of her neck at the last part. 

 "I'll meet you there. No one will see me." Ron looked back at the river, then looked at them and smiled slightly.

 "Ok. Don't be out too late." Harry threw the cloak over him and Hermione before she could protest and dragged her off.

 Ron was halfway submerged in the water when he heard breathing. He pulled out right away and stood up, looking all around him.

 "Follow.." A voice whispered, whisking past him. The wind started to blow harder and harder 'til Ron couldn't even hear the rushing river that was right next to him.

 "Who's there!?" Ron called whipping his wand out and pointing it everywhere around him.

 "Oh, no one important..."

 Ron swung around to see a dark hooded figure standing right where he saw the fire. The stranger flipped his cloak and the fire ignited again.

 "Yet.."

                                                            

3.2 pages

1109 words