𝐃𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐌 | 𝘏𝘢𝘳𝘳𝘺 𝘗𝘰𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳

27 || Pipes

Without stopping to see who was in the car, Harry jumped in, scooting over so Ron had room. Ron swung the door shut as quickly as he could, and spiders started to throw themselves against the sides of the car, rocking it back and forth.

"Gun it!" Ron bellowed to the driver.

"That's the plan," she said, flipping her blonde hair and slamming the gas pedal.

"Wha--Ash?" Harry said, looking furiously at the back window to check for spiders and then back around to stare at his un-petrified friend.

"Yup," she said, turning the steering wheel as fast as she could and driving up a steep hill. "Expected you guys to be around my bed, welcoming me back, but--"

She put her tongue between her teeth and jerked the car around to flatten a spider that was still on their tail. Harry and Ron were thrown back against the seat.

"--You could've at least waited before going off and getting yourselves killed," she finished, lifting her hands from the wheel and letting the car drive a course that it seemed to know. She flipped around in her seat so she was facing them. "Hermione got petrified?"

Harry and Ron nodded, still recovering. A few spiders were still following them, but without as much zeal; and they were almost out of the forest.

"How--I mean--" Ron sputtered as the car came to an abrupt stop, jostling them. "The Draught--"

"I may or may not have forgotten to mention that it takes a while to work," Ash grimaced. "Fascinating that my modifications changed the wait time--" she saw Harry and Ron's faces and cleared her throat. "But I never expected you two to go off into the forest without me."

They got out of the car and it drove itself away. Harry collected his invisibility cloak from Hagrid's hut.

"How did you know where to find us?" he whispered as they made their way back up to the castle.

"Well, as soon as I got up I went to Gryffindor tower, and went up to your dorm room to tell you you took too long, but you weren't there, and the cloak was missing, so I figured you and Ron had gone down to Hagrid's. He wasn't there and your cloak was left," she tugged on the fabric, "so I figured you went into the forest. Then that car showed up and I drove it to you."

"The forest must've turned it wild," Ron murmured. "That was my dad's car."

"You must've done a number on it flying in," she replied. "How bad at driving are you?"

Ron, instead of arguing, just laughed quietly, glad to have her back. Harry agreed. Things would be much better with Ash around to raise their spirits.

They entered through the portrait hole where the Fat Lady was snoozing.

"So, fill me in," Ash said, jumping onto Harry's bed and folding her legs pretzel-style. "What's happened?"

Harry, with the help of Ron occasionally, explained about Dumbledore, Hagrid going to Azkaban, and Hermione.

"She was found with a mirror," Ron yawned, exhausted from the night's events.

"So she did figure out what it was!" Ash said delightedly.

"So?"

"So what?"

"So, are you going to tell us, or not?"

"Okay," Ash said. "I know a bit, but I don't know how it's getting around Hogwarts."

"Just tell us already!" Harry and Ron said together. Ash threw a pillow at Harry.

"Alright, alright," she replied. "It's a basilisk."