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“Sir, could you and your beast be our rear guard?”

“Yes ma’am!” Hagrid said, and clomped over to the back of the group, Fang following closely behind. Hermione watched him go, and then turned to Ahsoka.
“Why do we need a rear guard? We haven’t seen anyone else in this castle,” she said.

“It’s what you don’t see that you should be wary of,” Ahsoka responded darkly, and started down the hall.

“What’s that s’posed to mean?” Ron asked. Hermione rolled her eyes and brushed past him.

Ahsoka walked at a brisk pace down the wide stone hall, and the group followed behind her. Hermione didn’t catch up to the Togruta until they reached an intersection.

“We should split up. We can explore more of this place that way,” Ahsoka said.
“If this place is dangerous maybe we shouldn’t split up,” Janner said with an edge of concern to his voice. He looked protectively over to his brother and sister. Ahsoka nodded and the paused for a moment.

“Although we should be cautious, I don’t sense any danger here,” she said. “Janner, you can stay with your sister. Go with Harry and Hagrid down that hall.” She pointed to the passage on the left. “The rest of you can come with me. Meet back here in twenty minutes.”

Everyone nodded and began walking down their designated halls. Hermione kept pace beside Ahsoka for a moment before speaking up.

“Sorry I blasted you with a spell when we first met,” she said rather sheepishly.

“Don’t feel bad. You were on alert, and reacted well. Besides, whatever you did to disarm me was pretty impressive,” Ahsoka smiled down at Hermione, who blushed.

“Thank you. This place just makes me jittery, and my spells tend to be a little wonky when I’m nervous.”

Ron laughed. “It’s not just the spells that go wonky,” he grinned.

“Ron!” Hermione jabbed with her elbow.

Ron skittered away from her and followed them down the hall at a distance.

While no one was looking he paused and sniffed the air, nudged one of the doors open, and slipped curiously into the room.