The Alarm Clock


Kreacher lay in his nest in the pantry in the kitchen of Number 12 Grimmauld Place. He was eating a bit of apple he’d kept for himself after making tarts for the dinner that night to celebrate Regulus’s return home from Hogwarts. His mistress had already left to go and collect the little Master from Platform 9¾. The apple crunched as Kreacher ate, his large eyes drifting closed as he thought of taking a little nap for himself.

Deep in his nest, beneath the blankets his Master Regulus had given him, amongst the dirty nasty straw below, where he’d hidden it long ago lay an old fashioned gold alarm clock, with two bells at the top. And as Kreacher lay, half asleep, his apple slice gone, his little fingers clasped over his chest… the hammer between the two bells slowly began to move…

The alarm was going off.

Kreacher sat up as the bells rang and his eyes sprang open and he pulled back the blanket, dug through the straw, found the clock and stared at it with wide, disbelieving eyes.

That clock had not worked for over a year.

But now the hands were moving as they properly should again.

Tick… tock…. Tick… tock…

The old elf stared...