The Adventure of A Curly Haired Girl

Chapter Four: The Guardian

Chapter Four: The Guardian

"How did it follow us?" Emily whispered as the house fell silent, even more silent then before.

"It must have wandered back through the dimensional tear to find you." The Doctor said with a shrug, "I can imagine his ride was far more bumpy then ours though."

"It can't get in because it doesn't know this place exists. But he can sense us." Lupin said, his voice just as quiet as Emily's. "I'm afraid it's waiting for us to reveal ourselves."

Mr. Weasley slowly approached the window at the end of the hall and took a small look behind the curtain. "The bugger is just waiting there by... by a police box?"

"The Tardis." The Doctor corrected.

Emily had almost forgotten it. "We could use it to get away and transport to the Ministry." She adds.

"The trouble is getting to the Tardis."

"We can help with that." Tonks said. " Arthur and Lupin will distract the creature while I cover you as you make your way to the Tardis."

"Sounds like a solid plan!" The excitement building within the Doctor was visible.

Emily couldn't tell if it was the fact that they were running from a dangerous creature, or if it was the promise of returning to his Tardis that made the Doctor so ecstatic. Either way, Emily reminded herself of what she had called him before they arrived at Grimmauld Place.

Madman

They all lined up at the door. Lupin was in front with his hand ready to turn the handle while Mr.Weasley stood behind him, ready to follow. Emily and the Doctor waited in the middle, while Tonks took the rear.

All had a similar expression.

Grim determination.

"All ready?" Lupin whispered and looked over his shoulder to see his question answered with nods from all four people behind him.

Emily's heart thumped wildly inside her chest as he opened the door. The heaviness in the air increased as they exposed themselves to the creature's gaze. There it stood, between them and the Tardis. It reminded Emily strangely of an old western movie. Except there were no tumbleweeds rolling across the street, nor was there an iconic dramatic western track playing in the background.

The Lethifold's raspy moaning reached Emily's ears and she swallowed hard. Her eyes shifted quickly to the porch where the intoxicated man had once laid and saw that he was gone.

Lucky man.

Lupin sprinted out of the door, with the others following, and wasted no time as he screamed, "Expecto Patronum!"

A huge silvery wolf emerged from his wand and Emily almost stopped completely in her tracks to stare at its beauty.

The silver beast lunged and sprang forward toward the Lethifold and tackled it roughly to the ground. It was a grueling tackle of light and dark, reminding Emily of some sort of sick resemblance to the Chinese sign for the balance of good and evil.

Black smoke of dread billowed of the dark creature as it struggled with the light, causing the ground beneath Emily's feet to disappear into black mist.

The scales were tipped and the darkness overcame the light, setting the balance into chaos and Lupin's Patronus vanished from sight. The creature bellowed a hateful scream and with an unexpected speed, raced toward Lupin in anger.

Tonks pulled Emily, who was standing frozen in a mixture of fear and awe, into motion just as Mr. Weasley sent his own Patronus toward the monster. Tonks covered Emily from behind as she ran, but she somehow knew that their spells would not stop it.