Green flames flared inside the hollow of an old tree.
Then they abruptly went out.
Douglas stepped out without stirring so much as a breeze.
The night air was cold and damp, mingled with the scent of soil and rotting leaves, filling his lungs with a bracing chill.
He raised his head and looked toward the outline of the Burrow nearby.
The crooked house, like building blocks stacked by a drunk, had now sunk into sleep.
Its warm lights had long since gone out, leaving only a blurred silhouette crouching quietly beneath the night sky.
An enormous ginger cat sat on the vegetable garden fence.
His body remained perfectly still; only his bushy tail gently tapped behind him in a steady rhythm.
Crookshanks.
He was carrying out his duty.
When Hermione left, Douglas had specifically instructed her to leave him behind: the most vigilant sentry, assigned especially to rats.
Douglas withdrew his gaze, the edges of his body blending into the night.
His figure skimmed along the ground without a sound.
A few bounds brought him into the crown of a tall oak.
Like a leaf, he returned soundlessly to the woods.
This was the best vantage point.
He concealed himself perfectly within the shadows cast by the dense foliage, becoming one with the darkness.
Douglas raised his hand and lightly touched a fingertip to his temple.
"Visual Zoom!"
An invisible force instantly hauled the world before his eyes closer, violently magnifying it.
Every detail became extraordinarily clear, down to the finest hair.
He could even make out the texture of every brick and stone in the Lovegood family's peculiar tower in the distance.
And the pot of drooping bellflowers on its windowsill.
Time flowed slowly through the cold, damp mist, like an icy snake.
He had no idea how