▬▬ eight; the earthquake
⋆.｡.:* ☆:**:. 

HOGWARTS SCHOOL OF WITCHCRAFT AND WIZARDRY HAD BEEN CHOKED BY THE MINISTRY. While days went by quicker than ever, the new lady always dressed in pink was making three announcements of new rules that she had added to the school every day. She had crowned herself the crown jewel, she had taken over the power of what goes down and what doesn't. Boys and girls are no longer allowed to be too close to each other, all students must always wear the school uniform properly—not a single open button! The walls were almost crumbling down because of the heavy frames that had been put up on the wall outside of the Great Hall, frames that told them what to do and what not to do.

While the school was changing into one of the ministries prisons, Draco Malfoy settled down in the old Astronomy Tower after have spend hours trying to get away from his friends. They did become a little too curious about him sometimes, always wanting to go with him. But now, finally, he was able to sit down in his own company and opening the letter he had received this morning.

He couldn't shake away the smile that began forming on his lips when he opened it to see the familiar handwriting and cute doodles on the side of the paper. Lauren always loved to draw, and whenever she was first to write instead she'd slip away from the assignment to draw small pieces of art all over the paper. That's one more thing he adored about her.

To Draco,

I hope you're not falling apart without me, we all know how much of an angel I am so I understand if it's hard right now. Anyway, I promised you I'd write from now on. Although I must admit, it's really boring here right now. Sirius is convinced he'll learn how to cook like Molly, but I doubt it. He almost burned the kitchen down last night.

How are you doing, Drake? I pray to God that you're eating well, sleeping enough, taking care of yourself. And I hope Umbridge isn't too harsh on you. We've read about her in the papers, and what she's doing to the school. Poor Dumbledore, but I bet he knows how to handle it.

Write back whenever you get time to, but don't leave me waiting. I miss you.
Sincerely, yours

His smile widened when he had finished it. But he couldn't tear his eyes away from it, "Yours." He chuckled to himself. She was his, he was hers. Never had he thought it would be like this, their secret friendship had finally turned into the relationship he so long had wanted.

Draco made a mental note inside his head to remember to write her back a letter later and send it the first thing tomorrow morning. He didn't want to keep her waiting. 

He rushed down the spiral stairs and into the castle halls and immediately bumped into the group of Slytherins that was rushing towards something along with many other students.

"What's going?" Draco asked as he tried to keep up with them.

Pansy dragged him along to the front of the students that gathered around the courtyard that was completely empty—except for Sybill Trelawney who stood trembling beside her luggage and Filch came walking out with one last bag in his arms. Behind him walked the pink dressed woman with a folded piece of paper.

"Why is she being fired?" Asked Crabbe and the girl with straight black hair shrugged,

"she's a weirdo. If I were Umbridge I'd done the same." Draco sighed at Pansy's comment but chose not to make a big scene. It was normal. Being mean was a common thing in his group of friends, they were mean but not to each other. They spat venom and enjoyed it, but they were at least kind to one another (mostly).

He really didn't pay much attention to the conversation between the two women, and he chose to walk away when the Headmaster himself joined the scene along with Professor McGonagall. He felt uninvolved in whatever was going on and so he chose to find something better to do. The others were probably wondering why he had walked away, and he knew they'd be coming looking for him soon so he rushed back to the common room and locked himself in his dorm with a paper and a pen.

While a blonde teenager was writing to the girl he loved, in the courtyard Harry Potter desperately rushed through the crowd of students who were retreating back to whatever they were doing before. He tried to reach Dumbledore but when he thought he had caught up, the man was nowhere to be seen or heard.

And walking back to the common room of the Gryffindors he had a heavy knot in his stomach, he wondered why the man that had cared about Harry so much would suddenly distant himself too much from him? What did Harry do that pushed Dumbledore away?

Later that day when the rest of the Gryffindors had settled in their chambers for the night, the Golden Four that was one member short was in the common room. Harry sat by the table, anxiously leaning one elbow against it and tapping on the wood while Ron sat in the red couch leaned forward listening to Hermione who was pacing around and expressing her frustrations about the new professor.

"That foul, evil, old gargoyle. We're not learning how to defend ourselves. We're not learning how to pass our OWLs.She's taking over the entire school," she rambled on. 

"Security has been and will remain the Ministry's top priority," a voice from the radio said. Harry turned around and turned the volume up while they all focused on what was being said. "Furthermore, we have convincing evidence. . . that these disappearances are the work of notorious mass murderer Sirius Black."

Before they could react or sigh about what was being said about someone close to them, especially Harry, a whisper interrupted.

"Harry." They turned to the fireplace and looked at the familiar face that was forming from the flames.

"Sirius. What are you doing here?" While Ron staid on the couch, Hermione and Harry sat down close to the fireplace.

"Answering your letter. You said you were worried about Umbridge. What's she doing? Training you to kill half-breeds?" The man in the fire asked with a short chuckle.

"She's not letting us use magic at all," the boy with a scar said loudly.

"Well, I'm not surprised. The latest intelligence is that Fudge doesn't want you trained in combat."

"Combat?" The redhead on the couch frowned. "What does he think, we'reforming some sort of wizard army?" 

"That's exactly what he thinks," Sirius nodded. "That Dumbledore is assembling his own forces to take on the Ministry. He's becoming more paranoid by the minute. The others wouldn't want me telling you this, Harry. . . but things aren't going at all well with the Order. Fudge is blocking the truth at every turn and these disappearances are just how it started before. Voldemort is on the move."

"Well, what can we do?"

"Someone's coming," Sirius whispered when a door was being opened. "I'm sorry I can't be of more help. But for now, at least, it looks like you're on your own."

The three children walked to stand by the window, looking out at the stormy night through the tall window. "He really is out there, isn't he?" Hermione sighed. "We've got to be able to defend ourselves. And if Umbridge refuses to teach us how, we need someone who will."

She turned around looking at Harry, who found his way back on the couch. 

"Come on, mate. Let's go to bed," Ron said. When the boy didn't respond but only stare into the wall, Ron sighed and walked to the stairs saying, "I'll see you in the morning."

The girl brushed a strand of curls behind her ear and sat down beside Harry, looking into the now extinguished fireplace. When she noticed his struggle to keep the emotion of worry hidden she grabbed his hand gently, "Harry, we'll be okay."

"Lauren won't," he said looking sharply at the girl beside him who shook her head.

"Lauren will be okay."

"Hermione, you know how this goes. It was a part of my dream, Voldemort coming back, killing Cedric and now Lauren isn't even going to school anymore. It's coming true," he said holding back a sob.

But she couldn't hold it back, a tear fell down her cheek as she let go of his hand to wipe it away, "we'll warn her."

"And Draco, he's gonna' drag her into the dark side and my dream about Lauren and Voldemort. . . it's going to happen. She's going to be on his side."

"What do we do? We can't let that happen! And for a fact, she is way stronger than you make her seem, she won't fall for whatever Draco will force into her," Hermione said loudly and upset hiding how fragile she was for Lauren Diggory, her best friend.

"I don't know Hermione," Harry said and his wall broke. The stern face he had tried to put up as a facade to hide his own weakness for this scary time came crushing down and Hermione hugged him while he sobbed into her shoulder. "We have to help her."

"Maybe we could get in touch with Sirius again, he'll know how to keep her safe."

—

The fact was, Sirius Black did not know how to keep her safe. Even though he knew that the girl was sleeping just down the hall being protected by this secret penthouse's walls, he couldn't help but stay awake and feel worried. Something about her behavior was tensing his nerves, the way she had been terrified earlier today, saying how she was haunted. He also felt broken all over again when he saw how grief had hit this innocent poor girl, it was tearing her bright soul into pieces. He understood how she felt, he knew how it felt to lose a brother. Even though James Potter hadn't been his brother by blood, he was his dearest friend.

When his eyelids finally started to feel heavy and he thought he could push all the worry aside for a few hours and rest, he heard a quiet squeaking sound. At first, he convinced himself it was a door moving because a breeze, but when the floor and walls slowly began shaking he sat up. 

The picture frames on the walls were rocking back and forth, slowly, while dust began falling down from the cabinets. He rushed out of his room without hesitation and stumbled into the room he had given to Lauren. She was curled into a ball under the desk in the corner of the room with her knees tightly against her chest.

"Lauren," he exclaimed and rushed to her and avoided the pieces of the roof that were falling onto the floor heavily as the shaking increased. 

"What's happening?" She shouted over the loud noises of furniture being moved around, glass shattering, and doors slamming. 

Sirius wrapped his arms around her while he desperately tried to find a safer way to hide from whatever was happening. It was an earthquake, except they were in London and when he glanced out the slightly open window he could see trees and other houses opposite the street be perfectly still. 

"We have to get out," he said before the table they were under was crushed by a hard piece of the roof fell down onto it. He rushed through the room and held her arm tightly as they stumbled down the shaking and unstable stairs, avoiding the crystals that were falling like arrows from the trembling chandelier. 

When the dark wood underneath them suddenly collapsed Lauren was pushed by Sirius down to the hallway where she quickly hurried under a fallen door to protect mostly her head from getting hit by something.

"Sirius?!" She yelled, feeling guilt creep inside her when she thought the worst.

"I'm here, don't worry. Stay where you are Lauren!" Judging by his voice, he was somewhere behind the mess of the fallen staircase. Of course, like always when she landed in danger, she didn't hide. She saw a glance of his hand underneath the pile of wooden planks and she knew he wasn't getting out of there by himself.

She ran into the kitchen and grabbed the broomstick (not one that flies) and ducked under the falling objects. "Don't move," she shouted.

"Get back, Lauren!" He said but she ignored him and used the broom to push away heavy pieces of wood. When she was about to reach out for his hand something grabbed her and threw her into the wall. 

At first, she couldn't cope with what was happening, until she couldn't breathe. She dangled her feet realizing she was pushed against the wall a bit above the ground and something was tightening around her throat, but there was nothing but air around her still it felt like someone was choking her.

Her vision became blurry when she started to feel nauseous, and she could only hear Sirius voice screaming but not what he was saying. Her eyes fought to stay open, her heart was beating quicker in a try to keep her breathing but she gave in to the strong force pushing against her and her vision went black. The last thing she heard was a hoarse whisper, a voice that she knew from her nights in the hospital wing last year.

"I'm coming to get you, Lauren. Because it's time to go home." His voice was just as raspy as she had heard it before, but it wasn't a threat. Deep beneath this monster's hoarse voice was something gentle.

▬▬ author's note ▬▬
no one is prepared for the next chapter. that's all I'm gonna' say, bye.

stay tuned, thank you! <3