A Forever Love

Chapter Seven: Gone

That night Harry and I snuck out of the common room under his invisibility cloak. Imagine the worst situation possible. Now triple that. That was how I felt when we thew off the cloak and bumped into Draco, who was looking for me.

"KRYSTAL!" he yelled. "God, Krystal, I'm SO sorry! Everything that's going to happen - er... happened. Everything that's happened, I mean. I just wanted to say I'm sorry. So sorry."

"Draco," I said, shaking my head. "Don't be sorry. Please don't. I'm sorry. It was partly my fault, you know." Draco nodded and I knew he understood. It made me smile to see him smile again.

"Krys? If you want, we... we don't have to go tonight," Harry said in a pained voice. I saw Draco's smile drop as he realized that Harry was there.

"Potter," he said dully.

"Malfoy," Harry returned the attitude. Now I was so thankful that I made them promise not to fight around me.

"No, no Harry. We have to go. We said we would at least a week ago!" I explained. Draco looked downright angry now. "Draco - I'm sorry. Can we talk later?" I watched Draco give a small nod, not taking his eyes of Harry. I went and gave Draco a hug. I turned and saw Harry's stare was also locked on Draco. "Harry!" I said, snapping my fingers in front of his eyes. "You ready?"

"Wh- oh, right. Let's go," he said coldly. We snuck up to the Owlery, one of my favorite places in Hogwarts. Despite the slight smell, you're able to sit on the windowsill and look out on the lake. Plus, the moon was always perfectly positioned to reflect off the lake.

"I love this, you know?" I told him.

"What?"

"Us," I watched him smile. "And this great view, of course." I said, giggling. I gave him a kiss and before I even got the chance to pull away, I was forced back by a bony, but strong hand. I let out a small cry of surprise, and when I looked up, I noticed Harry was gone. "Harry? Harry, where'd you go? Harry!" I called. I followed the echo of noises I heard leading to the door. It sounded like a struggle between two men, or boys even.

"Krystal?" I heard a panicked voice call. "Krystal!"

"Harry? Harry where are you? I can't see a damned thing!"

"Kry-" I didn't hear anymore but I knew now where exactly I was in the owlery. I was right next to the door. I knew, only because it had slammed right after Harry started to say my name again. I pulled hard on the door handle, wanting to run out. I found it locked.

"HELLO?" I yelled, banging on the door. "Anybody! Hello? Harry? Let me out, please! ANYONE!" The door was locked and pulling on it wasn't doing anything, aside from draining me of all strength. "Oh, damn," I whispered, trying to see through the blanket of darkness ahead of me. I heard owls hooting peacefully in the near distance, but couldn't see them, no matter how hard I squinted.

I must have sat there for nearly an hour until...

"Krystal! Krystal Montague," I heard a low voice call. The voice sounded angry and rough, but that may have been because he was out of breath.

"Who's there?" I called back. His hand found my forearm and gripped it tightly.

"You must come with me. It's urgent."

"Wait! Who are you?" I yelled, struggling to break free.

"You'll hear more later. For now, you must come with me!" The man was intimidating and my pulling back wasn't having any effect. I walked forward with the man. If he were dangerous, he'd have his wand out... wouldn't he? Then I thought, do dangerous Muggles always have their guns out? Probably not...

"Who are you? What do you want?"

"No time to explain now. It's about Harry, so hurry!" Hearing this, I rushed forward. I frantically asked him questions, wondering where Harry was and if he was okay. He ignored me completely, however. We finally got to the entrance hall of Hogwarts. "Stay close," he whispered. "It's not safe out there tonight..." I followed the man and I realized he was leading me straight for Hagrid's hut. I heard a loud noise out around the back of the hut and I took a look.

"Buckbeak?" I asked in awe. Buckbeak was Hagrid's old pet hippogriff. He had run away the night he was to be executed for 'hurting' Draco. How'd he get back, I wondered. The man knocked loudly on Hagrid's front door.