I had no idea which room the Weasleys had entered and I could feel my heart racing as Bella approached the first door and pushed it open. I tried to look at each door carefully, trying to spot something out of place, something that might clue me in to which room they were in.
Suddenly I heard shuffling and Bella's head whipped toward the end of the hallway as my heart raced. She watched me carefully as I shrugged my shoulders.
"It's probably just Crookshanks. Hermione asked if the cat could stay with me during the holidays as the new place didn't want a cat."
She furrowed her brows and began walking down the hall.
Hermione, have Molly apparate into my room with Crookshanks and send the cat into the hallway! I shouted inside her head, hoping she would be able to hear me. I coughed loudly as I heard the pop of Molly apparating and suddenly Crookshanks came running out of my room and rubbed against my legs. I knew they couldn't disapparate out of the house because of the protective charms but they could within the house.
Crookshanks meowed at me and I picked up the animal as Bella stared at us curiously.
"The new place doesn't allow animals?" she asked.
I shook my head. No, they don't... so she left him here with me. I told her I would lay low for a while and keep him with me until term resumes."
"Is the mudblood planning to return?"
"Bella," I warned and her lips pressed together in a thin line as I sighed. "Hermione will be retrieving Crookshanks at the start of term. I'll be bringing him with me."
"And there's no one else here?"
"Why would there be?" I asked her. "It's not like this is exactly a good place to hide with Death Eaters stopping by."
She hummed but seemed satisfied with this answer and began walking toward the stairs as I brought Crookshanks with me. He purred in my arms as we reached the bottom of the stairs and Bella turned to me. "I'm sorry about all this... truly."
"It's fine," I brushed it off, setting Crookshanks down, as we walked to the door. "So does he... not trust me?"
"Who?"
"Tom."
"He does, Y/n. He just... he wanted to be certain."
I scoffed, opening the door. "He needs to stop questioning me. What if someone would've been here? Hell, what if Albus would've showed up here? Having two Death Eaters show up at my door wouldn't exactly help the whole not trusting me thing."
She sighed. "I understand, Y/n."
"See that he understands as well," I hissed.
She nodded and left the house. I waited until I heard the popping sound, signaling she'd disapparated, before I breathed a sigh of relief, leaning against the door. That was far too close.
***
I waited a few moments to be safe before calling out. "You can come out now."
I heard footsteps as Molly and the kids came running down the stairs, quickly followed by Arthur and Sirius.
"Are you alright?" Molly exclaimed, running toward me, taking my hands in hers. She searched my face, as if looking for an injury that wasn't there.
"I'm fine," I assured her as Sirius approached us.
"What did they want?"
I turned to Sirius. "They thought I was housing the Order here... wonder where they could've gotten that idea," I chuckled, looking around at most of the Order standing in my living room. "It was stupid of me to bring you here... I should've known they'd come looking for you. I put you in danger and for that I'm sorry."
They all shook their heads as Molly spoke up. "Absolutely not! You took us in! We would've had nowhere to go!"
I smiled softly at her as she reassured me. Harry ran toward me, wrapping his arms around me.
"Smart idea with Crookshanks by the way," he said, smiling up at me. I thanked him and we returned to the kitchen, trying to pretend that nothing had happened.