Diana Wynne Jones by Dogsbody

Author:Dogsbody [Dogsbody]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Published: 2012-06-05T13:14:27+00:00

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10

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SIRIUS WENT HOME at a hasty canter. He knew as soon as he was outside that it was not quite as late as he had thought. But it was late enough. He had barely time to get back before Kathleen did. He galloped around the corner into the right street, almost skidding in his hurry, and found he was actually behind Kathleen. She was halfway up the street. He could get there. If he dived into the side street that led to the lane behind the yard, he could be in the yard with the gate shut and his collar on, and Kathleen would never know he had been out.

But Kathleen was in trouble. He could see she was. There was a gang of boys all around her, shouting things, and one kept trying to pull her hair. The sight of Kathleen being pushed and jostled all over the pavement was more than Sirius could take. He could not help it if he was found out. He trotted forward with his ears pricked to see what he could do.

There were six boys of several sizes. They were pinching and shoving Kathleen, and stamping in puddles so that she was showered with muddy water. Sirius could see from Kathleen’s face that this had often happened to her and she had no way of stopping it.

“What’s at the bottom of an Irish milk bottle?” shrieked the smallest boy, who seemed to be Kathleen’s chief tormentor.

“Open other end!” roared the others, screaming with laughter and shoving Kathleen this way and that.

“How do you brainwash an Irishwoman?” yelled the first boy.

“Fill her boots with water!” screamed the others, stamping in puddles for all they were worth.

Sirius’s trot dropped to a crouching walk. He crept forward, growling softly. Perhaps it was the misery on Kathleen’s face, or perhaps it was that he had already lost his temper once that day, but he became angrier with every step. Too bad it was the smallest boy who was the worst. Sirius’s growl became a snarl. The boys were too busy shouting to hear him. As the smallest boy opened his mouth to ask what they put at the top of Irish ladders, Sirius lit to a green rage again and sprang.

The boys found themselves barged aside by something they thought was a raging lion. Its eyes blazed like green torches. It hit the smallest boy in the chest and knocked him over backwards. Then it stood on him, snarling, baring a set of huge white teeth and making his terrified face green with the light from its eyes.

“Leo!” said Kathleen. It was half relief, half reproach, and very wobbly.

Sirius knew he must not upset her any further. He had to content himself with snarling around the ring of boys. Two green beams from his eyes flitted over them all. He was trying so hard not to bite the boy he was treading on that foam dripped across his bared teeth and down from his open jaws.

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