Hogwarts is caught in a fog of despair, and it's now up to the children to save the world from the wrath of the Dark Lord. Ruby is primed and ready to fight for the home she's grown to love, but at what cost does that come when she's pitted against...
Ruby had the distinctive feeling that she was being watched.
It was a slow, creeping feeling; the hair at the back of your neck begins to stand and anxiety carves itself into your chest. She filled the car with gas at a roadside service station, pulling her jacket tighter around her small body and she scanned the surrounding area.
It was another cold, bleary day in the North of England, and supposedly she and Luna were to reach Xenophilius Lovegood in the next couple of days. Judging by the fact that the girls continued to drive through the middle of nowhere, seeing field after field after boggy field, Ruby had the sinking feeling that the girls were lost.
Ruby finished filling the gas tank and paid with what little money she had. They had better come to the old rook chess house sooner rather than later. She looked around again, this time spotting an old mater truck at the next fill station beside her. The driver was an old, scraggly man donned in a bright yellow raincoat and squeaky rubber boots. He had a long, grey beard that reminded Ruby of a crow's nest and had hollow, murky eyes.
He looked like a fisherman, but Ruby found it peculiar. There wasn't a place around here to fish for miles.
Ruby kept her gaze fixed on him until Luna came running back from the loo.
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"I told the service clerk there was a dead rat in the sink in the toilet, he just asked me if he knew where he could get another pet," she said, seemingly unbothered by the precularity.
Ruby refrained from rolling her eyes, "Next time, I advise you squat in a bush," she hurried Luna towards the passenger seat.
"Are you in a hurry, Ruby?" Luna asked.
Am I in a hurry? "Well, we have no money, no food, and I haven't had a full night of sleep in weeks. So yes, you could say I'm in a bit of a hurry," she jumped into the driver's seat and started the engine.
"It shouldn't be that much farther, just over the hills in the North," Luna replied.
The old man in the yellow raincoat and squeaky boots watched the car peel out of the station quickly, hollow, murky eyes trained on the faint silhouette of the girls.
The road was quite clear, a little wet from rainfall. Ruby kept looking in her side and rear-view mirrors, and she was relieved when she saw nobody was following them. She took a deep, oxidizing breath.
Luna looked at her curiously, "Why are you nervous, Ruby?"
"Lack of sleep," she replied simply.
Ruby took another glance in the mirror, but she was dismayed when she saw the mater truck had suddenly appeared right behind them. Luna had noticed it, too.
"We're being followed, aren't we?" she said solemnly.
"Afraid so," Ruby shifted the car into high gear and accelerated the car, "Make sure your seatbelt's tight,"
