Chapter 9: Hagrid's Advice

Harry:

Two days after the Black break-in, the school was still buzzing. I was watching Neville get chased out of the Great Hall by a Howler from his grandmother, when Nicci told me I had a letter. Hedwig backed her up by biting my wrist.

"Ouch! Oh—thanks, Hedwig."

The note inside said:

"Dear Harry, Ron, and Nicci,

How about having tea with me this afternoon 'round six? I'll come and collect you from the castle. WAIT FOR ME IN THE ENTRANCE HALL; YOU'RE NOT ALLOWED OUT ON YOUR OWN.

Cheers,

Hagrid."

"He probably wants to hear about Black!" said Ron.

"I don't think that's it," said Nicci thoughtfully.

So that evening at six, Ron, Nicci, and I left the Gryffindor tower, passed the security trolls at a run, and made our way down to the entrance hall.

Hagrid was already waiting for us.

"All right, Hagrid!" said Ron. "S'pose you want to hear about Saturday night, do you?"

"I've already heard all abou' it," said Hagrid, opening the door.

Nicci snickered into her arm as Ron said, "Oh."

When we were inside Hagrid's cabin, after passing Buckbeak and his plate of dead ferrets, Hagrid poured us tea and offered us Bath buns, which we all politely declined.

"I got somethin' ter discuss with you three," said Hagrid.

Nicci leaned back in her chair. "I knew that this was what it was about."

Hagrid shot her an appreciative glance. "Smart girl, you."

"What?" I asked.

"Hermione," said Hagrid.

"What about her?" said Ron.

"She's in a righ' state, that's what. I know Nicci's bin talkin' to her, but yeh've been spendin' so much time with Ginny Weasley an' these two. She's bin comin' down ter visit me a lot since Chris'mas. Bin feelin' lonely. Firs' yeh weren' talking to her because o' the Firebolt, now yer not talkin' to her because her cat—"

"—ate Scabbers!" Ron interjected angrily.

"I don't think that's fair, Ron," said Nicci. "Crookshanks is a cat. Scabbers is, or was, a rat. That's what cats do. And you can't expect her to keep her cat locked up all the time; that's not fair to either of them. Her pet has just as much right to run around as yours does."

Hagrid nodded. "I thought you two'd value yer friend more'n broomsticks or rats. Tha's all."

Ron and I exchanged uncomfortable looks.

"Really upset, she was, when Black nearly stabbed yeh, Ron…" I drifted out of the conversation for a second as I saw Nicci's expression shift a bit when Black arrived in the conversation. It seemed as though she wanted to say something, but she refused to do so. As if she knew we were wrong, but didn't think she should correct us.

"If she'd just get rid of that cat, I'd speak to her again!" Ron said angrily. "But she's still sticking up for it! It's a maniac, and she won't hear a word against it!"

"Ah, well, people can be a bit stupid about their pets," said Hagrid wisely.

We spent the rest of the time talking about Gryffindor's improved chances for the Quidditch cup. Nicci was surprisingly good at Quidditch talk and terms, and I had a feeling she'd be a good Quidditch player.

It was nine o' clock when we finally went back to the castle.

Alecta:

Saturday morning, Harry asked me if I wanted to go to Hogsmeade with him, but I said no. I decided to spend the morning with Ginny, who looked bored and tired. "Hey," I said, plopping down next to her.

"Hi," she said. "What're you doing here? I thought you'd be sneaking into Hogsmeade?"

"Nah," I said. "Not in the mood. So, how're your classes?"

"Good," she told me. "Better then last year."

"I can imagine."

"Mm-hm. What d'you think about Divination for a course next year?"

"Not a good idea. I've seen Hermione in class lately, and she looks like she's about to explode. I'd go with Arithmancy or Ancient Runes and Care of Magical Creatures. Maybe even Muggle Studies."

"Hmm…Well, I'm definitely doing Care of Magical Creatures. Charlie really liked it, and I like Hagrid a lot too. I think I'll do Muggle Studies too. I'd like to finally understand what Dad's talking about."

"That's a good idea," I said.

"Do you know anything about muggles?"

"'Course I do," I said. "I spent almost three years with muggles. And my parents lived in a muggle community, so I picked up a ton there." Nicci, you're officially lying through your teeth. Well, I did know a ton about muggles. I just hadn't grown up anywhere near them.

"Really?" Ginny asked. "So you'd help me with course work?"

"Sure."

"Wow, Nicci," said Ginny. "You know housework spells, you know muggles and magic, and you're absolutely brilliant. I think Mum and Dad are going to replace me with you."

I laughed. "They couldn't. I don't look anything like them."

She sent me an offended glare. "Thanks, Nicci."

"Oh, was I supposed to say something to convince you you're the best daughter in the world?" She slapped me in the arm. "I'm joking, Ginny."

"You're the worst sister in the world."

I stared at her in surprise.

She looked back at me and gasped. "Oh! I forgot to tell you! Mum and Dad decided to go talk to Dumbledore about adopting you until you're of age."

"And you're just now telling me this? How could you possibly forget something like that?"

"I'm sorry! I was busy with school work and it completely slipped my mind."

I turned away from her in mock anger.

"Y'know, two can play at that game, Nicci."

Three hours later, Ron ran into the common room, completely out of breath. "Nicci," he gasped out. "Need you—to help me—Harry and—Malfoy."

"Why?" I asked, getting up and walking over to him. "What's wrong? What happened with Harry and Malfoy?"

"He saw his head."

"Who saw who's head?"

"Malfoy…Harry's head…from underneath the invisibility cloak…" he choked.

"Oh no." I took off from the common room, dragging Ron by his arm. We reached Snape's office and Ron burst in.

"I—gave—Harry—that—stuff," he said, still completely out of breath. "Bought it—in Zonko's…ages ago…"

I walked in behind him to see Lupin, Snape and Harry standing around the Marauder's Map. At the sight of me, they both relaxed and stepped away from Harry.

"What's going on?" I asked, my voice edging on annoyance. "I'm in the common room, and Ron comes bursting in and tells me that Malfoy saw Harry's head in Hogsmeade, and that Snape was going to yell at Harry. But I don't see how Harry could've been with Malfoy at Hogsmeade, because Harry's been with me all day."

Ron and Harry both stared at me, and then tried to act as though they knew this already.

Snape sneered. "How odd. I found Potter on the third floor, by the statue of the one-eyed witch."

"Harry ran into Neville earlier there and dropped a book. He only left ten or fifteen minutes ago."

"How did you know Potter ran into Longbottom there?"

"Because I'm a Seer," I said sarcastically. "Harry told me!"

"Well!" said Lupin clapping his hands and looking cheerful. "That seems to clear that up! Severus, I'll take this back, shall I?" He took the map and stuffed it in his robes. "Harry, Ron, Nicci, come with me. I need a word about my vampire essay—excuse us, Severus—"

We left the office and made our way to the entrance hall without speaking. Then Harry turned to Lupin and said, "Professor, I—"

"I don't want to hear any explanations," Lupin said flatly. "I happen to know that this map was confiscated by Mr. Filch many years ago. Yes, I know it's a map," he said to Harry and Ron's amazed faces. I snorted. Of course he knew it was a map! He'd been part of the group to make it! "I don't want to know how this came into your possession. I am, however, astounded that you didn't hand it in. Particularly after the last time a student left information lying around."

Harry:

There it was again. Nicci's entire demeanor changed; she opened her mouth and then closed it again. I was sure Nicci knew something, anything, about Sirius Black that we didn't.

"Don't expect me to cover up for you again, Harry. I cannot make you take Sirius Black seriously." Nicci snickered into her sweater, but I was sure I was the only one who'd heard it. "You're very lucky Nicci was there. If she hadn't been such a good liar, and convinced Professor Snape that you'd been with her, you would've been in serious trouble. Both of you." He glanced at the Marauder's Map. "And Harry, I would have thought that what you have heard when the dementors draw near you would have had more of an impact on you."

Nicci's eyes flashed; she stepped forward. "That's low, Professor."

What I saw next surprised me more. Lupin stepped cautiously away from Nicci and relaxed a little. "What I mean is that your parents gave their lives to keep you alive. A poor way to repay them—gambling their sacrifice for a bag of magic tricks."

Alecta:

I glared after him as he walked off. Slowly, we turned and started walking back to the Gryffindor Tower. As we reached the corridor to the portrait hole, Ron said, "It's my fault. I persuaded you to go. Lupin's right, it was stupid, we shouldn't have done it—"

He broke off; we'd reached the portrait hole and the security trolls to find Hermione walking towards us. I looked at her face, and I saw something was wrong. What had happened?

"Come to have a good gloat?" said Ron harshly, as she stopped in front of us. "Or have you just been to tell on us?"

"Lay off, Ron," I said, stepping over next to Hermione, and putting an arm around her shoulder. "What's wrong?"

"I—I just thought you ought to know," said Hermione. She was trembling and she had a letter in her hand. "Hagrid lost his case. Buckbeak is going to be executed."

"Oh no," I said, looking away. Buckbeak hadn't done anything wrong! Why was he to be executed?

"He—he sent me this," Hermione said, closing her eyes and holding out the letter. Harry took it and began to read.

"Dear Hermione,

We lost. I'm—er—allowed to bring—him?—back to Hogwarts. Execution date to be fixed. Beaky…has enjoyed London. I won't forget all the help you gave us."

"They can't do this!" I protested. "Buckbeak isn't dangerous at all."

"Malfoy's dad's frightened the Committee into it," said Hermione, wiping her eyes. "You know what he's like. They're a bunch of doddery old fools, and they were scared. They're be an appeal though, there always is. Only I can't see any hope…nothing will have changed."

"Yeah, it will," said Ron. "You won't have to do all the work alone this time, Hermione. I'll help."

Ron has seen the light! Good for him!

Hermione was apparently thinking along the same lines, because she cried, "Oh, Ron!" and flung her arms around him.

It took quite a bit of willpower to not go 'Aww!' at the scene, even though it really wasn't very mushy or romantic. I mean, Hermione was crying and Ron looked completely terrified. They had quite a ways to go.

"Ron, I'm really, really, sorry about Scabbers," she sobbed.

"Oh—well—he was old," said Ron, looking relieved that Hermione had let go of him. Y'know, Mister, there'll come a day when you'll be upset when she lets go of you. I hope. "And he was a bit useless. And you never know, maybe Mum and Dad'll get me an owl now."

All Hermione had to do was hug him? She should've done that months ago.

Over the next few weeks, I noticed the tension between Gryffindor and Slytherin rising to almost impossible heights. It truly scared me, because when I'd originally gone to Hogwarts, Gryffindors and Slytherins had had, not a close relationship, but inter-house friendships. But here, now, it seemed as though they'd never get along. I almost missed the old days.

But I didn't. And as I spent more time around the current Slytherins, I couldn't imagine wanting to be friends with them. Especially that Malfoy. I was beginning to think that I hated him more then his father.

Never, even in my memory, had a match come with such high energy. On the night before the match, even Hermione put down her books. "I can't work, I can't concentrate," she said.

I grinned, and looked over at Fred and George, who were telling loud jokes and being exceptionally noisy. I realized quickly that they were just being noisy to deal with their nerves. Oliver Wood was bending over a model of the Quidditch pitch and moving the players around with his wand. Alicia Spinnet, Angelina Johnson, and Katie Bell were all laughing at Fred and George's jokes, trying not to look nervous. I was sitting in an armchair with Ginny, talking about her brothers Bill and Charlie. I noticed Harry was sitting with Ron and Hermione, looking positively terrified.

"D'you think Gryffindor will win?" Ginny asked me.

"Of course I do," I said. "We've got a great team who practices all the time, who have talent, and have reasonable brooms. Why on earth wouldn't we win?"

"You seem confident."

"Their only problem is nerves. They're afraid of failure and it's getting to them," I diagnosed, leaning back in the chair. "But they'll be fine tomorrow. Trust me, it's always worse the night before then it is when it's actually happening."

All of a sudden, Wood stood up and yelled, "Team! Bed!"

Hermione came over to sit with us as Ron and Harry went up the stairs. "I hope Harry'll be all right."

"Hermione, he'll be fine," I reassured her. "He's an amazing Seeker, with an amazing team and amazing teachers."

"Right." Hermione took a deep breath. "I know."

It seemed like no time at all until the next morning, when Harry and the rest of the team came down the stairs to the common room. I hadn't slept at all last night; I'd been with Sirius and Crookshanks, who really was an amazing cat. We mostly had spent the entire night talking about the Quidditch game, Pettigrew, and how we were ever going to explain the whole story to Harry, Ron and Hermione. "Hi, Nicci," said Harry, breaking me out of my chain of thought.

"Hey, Harry," I responded, without looking up.

"Hi, Nics."

I rolled my eyes. "Hello, George."

"Nicci?" called Ginny, coming down the stairs. "Oh, hi George, Fred." She shook her head. "How're you awake?"

I shrugged.

"Hey, sister mine," said George. "See you two later."

"See you."

"Hey!" I called after them. "If you lose, I promise I'll come to your funeral!"

Angelina, Fred, George, and Harry laughed and Wood managed to crack a smile. "Thanks, Nicci," whispered Fred. "We needed that."

"Anytime," I whispered back.

At the game later, I was wedged between Hermione and Ginny, who both looked insanely nervous. I sighed, and watched as Lee Jordan started commentating.

"And it's Gryffindor in possession, Alicia Spinnet with the Quaffle, heading for the Slytherin goal posts, looking good Alicia! Argh, no—Quaffle intercepted by Warrington, Warrington of Slytherin tearing up the field—WHAM!—nice Bludger work there by George Weasley, Warrington drops the Quaffle, it's caught by—Johnson, Gryffindor back in possession, come on, Angelina—nice swerve around Montauge—duck, Angelina, that's a Bludger!—SHE SCORES! TEN-ZERO TO GRYFFINDOR!"

I cheered loudly along with the rest of the Gryffindors. Just as I was about to put my focus back on the game, something caught my eyes. A pair of eyes. A pair of eyes that looked suspiciously like—

Dammit. Sirius was here.

I slipped away from Ginny, Ron, and Hermione quietly and made my way down to where Sirius was standing. Well, whatever you wanted to call it.

"Sirius," I hissed when I got down there. "What are you doing here?"

"I came to see Harry," he said, hiding from sight and turning back into himself. "He's an amazing Seeker, better then James…"

"Wasn't James a Chaser?" I asked, crouching down next to him.

"Yeah, but the amount of time he spent with the Snitch," Sirius muttered. "Could've been Seeker if he wanted to."

"THIRTY-ZERO! TAKE THAT, YOU DIRTY, CHEATING—"

"What on earth is going on out there?" I asked.

"Let's find out, shall we?" Sirius turned back into a dog and strutted out.

"And it's Gryffindor in possession again, as Johnson takes the Quaffle—Flint alongside her—poke him in the eye, Angelina!—it was a joke, Professor, it was a joke—"

"They play dirtier then we did," commented Sirius. "But I like the commentator."

"Lee?" I asked. "Yeah, I like him too. He's Fred and George's friend—the Beaters."

"Weasley?"

"Yep."

"Ah," Sirius said, turning back to the game.

We watched as one of the dirtiest games in history unfolded. With the Chasers, Beaters, and…wow. Two of the Beaters aimed both Bludgers and hit Wood twice. Beside me, Sirius winced.

"YOU DO NOT ATTACK THE KEEPER UNLESS THE QUAFFLE IS WITHIN SCORING AREA!" shrieked Madam Hooch. She looked absolutely furious. "Gryffindor penalty!"

A few minutes later, Malfoy grabbed onto the end of Harry's broom to stop him getting the Snitch. Sirius growled and barked loudly. I kicked him.

"Penalty! Penalty to Gryffindor! I've never seen such tactics!"

The game seemed to be action-packed with cheating and goals; currently, Angelina was flying for the goal, and Harry was behind her…what was he doing?

He shot in front of Angelina and scattered the Slytherins. I grinned and laughed madly. My eyes searched the field for…oh no.

"HARRY!" I screamed. "THE SNITCH! BY MALFOY!"

He looked at me for half a second, looked at Malfoy, and streaked off like a bullet, catching up to Malfoy…knees…elbows…level…and then—"YES!" Harry yelled, pulling out of his dive.

I screamed, hugged Sirius, and ran back up to my seat. In the pandemonium, no one had noticed my absence.

"We won!" shrieked Ginny, pulling me into a hug, jumping up and down.

The Gryffindor team was descending slowly to the ground; People were running out onto the pitch…Hagrid was yelling, "Yeh beat 'em, Harry! Yeh beat 'em! Wait till I tell Buckbeak!"…McGonagall was sobbing uncontrollably into a Gryffindor flag…and then I was standing next to Hermione, beaming at Harry, not knowing what on earth to say. I hugged Hermione, grinning madly, and we both laughed.

The euphoria of the match seemed to last all the way up to the exams—and then it was suddenly silent. But as I sat down for our Defense Against the Dark Arts exam, I couldn't imagine why people bothered studying for these. They were so straightforward and simple.

…Well, maybe I could.

I went right before Hermione and slipped through the exam easily. The grindylow, hinkypunks, Red Caps, were quite simple. And then I climbed into the trunk with the boggart. There, standing before me, were the bodies of my friends, all dead, with a face…one I knew well, standing over them.

And just like with the Mirror of Erised, their faces changed. Ginny, Harry, Hermione, Ron, Fred, George…

Oh God. I nearly threw up. "Riddikulus!" I cried, my voice faltering.

"Not good enough, A-lec-ta," drawled his voice. "You'll have to be better. But you weren't better before, were you? Not strong enough, not good enough—"

I screamed with frustration, and yelled "RIDDIKULUS!"

The trunk blasted apart.

I'm not quite sure what happened next. All I really remember was stopping the wood in midair, and closing my hands, slamming the pieces of the trunk back together, trapping the boggart inside. I turned around to face Lupin, who was looking at me with an awe-struck face. The rest of the class looked a bit scared.

"Sorry about that," I said, slapping a smile on my face. "It's still in there."

"The…boggart?" he asked.

"Yes," I said, peering at him. "Am I done?"

He nodded; I left, repeatedly hitting myself in the head for being so stupid. How could I let my magic get out of control like that?

I was sitting in the common room a few hours later with Hermione and Ron, who had wisely chosen not to mention my outbreak in class, when a tawny owl flew through the window and landed on Hermione's lap. She took the letter off his leg, and began to read,

"Lost appeal." Hermione's voice shook. "They're going to execute at sunset. Nothing you can do. Don't come down. I don't want you to see it.

Hagrid."

"Oh no!" I cried. "They can't!"

"I can't believe it," whispered Hermione. "They—they wouldn't…"

At that moment, Harry burst into the common room and ran over to us. "Professor Trewlaney," he said, completely out of breath, "just told me—"

He broke off suddenly.

"Buckbeak lost," Ron said weakly. "Hagrid's just sent this."

Harry took the letter and read through it quickly, hands shaking. "We've got to go," he said quietly. "He can't just sit there on his own, waiting for the executioner!"

"Sunset, though…" Ron said, staring at his hands. "We'd never be allowed…'Specially you, Harry…"

"If only we had the Invisibility Cloak…"

"Well, we could use mine," I said, thinking out loud. "But it's only big enough for two, not four…"

"Where's yours, Harry?" asked Hermione.

Harry told her the story of how he left it in the passageway to Hogsmeade when Snape had almost caught him, and if he went anywhere near it again he'd be in trouble.

"That's true," said Hermione thoughtfully, getting up from her chair. "If he sees you…How do you open the witch's hump again?"

"You—you tap it and say Dissendium," said Harry. "But—"

Hermione had already walked out. I laughed.

"What's so funny?" asked Ron.

"You should know by now that you can't change a girls mind once she's set it on something," I told them, giggling. "You were going to try and stop Hermione, weren't you?"

When Hermione returned, Ron looked very impressed. "Hermione, I don't know what's gotten into you! First you hit Malfoy, then you walk out on Trewlaney—"

Hermione seemed very pleased with that statement.

Approximately an hour later, Harry, Ron, Hermione and I walked out of Hogwarts towards Hagrid's cabin. Hermione and I were under my invisibility cloak; Harry and Ron were under Harry's.

When we reached the cabin, Harry knocked on the door. Hagrid, looking visibly upset, opened the door and stared around.

"It's us," Harry whispered. "We're wearing the Invisibility Cloak. Let us in and we can take it off."

"Yeh shouldn've come!" said Hagrid, but he opened the door anyway and we all stepped through. Hagrid shut the door very fast, and I pulled off my cloak, to see Harry doing the same.

"Nicci? Yeh've got a cloak too?" he asked, shaking his head. "Shoulda known…"

"Where's Buckbeak?" asked Hermione.

"I—I took him outside," Hagrid said, voice shaking. He was pouring milk into a cup of tea, and the milk was spilling all over the table. "He's tethered in me pumpkin patch. Though' he oughta see the trees an'—an' smell fresh air—before—"

Hagrid knocked over the milk jug and it broke on the floor.

"I'll do it, Hagrid," said Hermione, bending over and cleaning up the mess.

"Hagrid?" I said. "Can I go—say good-bye?"

Hagrid nodded; a tear was streaming down his face. I silently stepped out the back door to see Buckbeak lying in the middle of the patch, not knowing what was coming. I walked up to him, and bowed low. He looked at me and bowed his head back.

"Hi, you," I said, sitting down next to him. "How are you?"

He snorted and tossed his head. "Good to be back in the open air again?" I asked, a tear running down my cheek too. How could something so innocent and naïve be executed for something it wasn't faulty for?

I sat there for a time, feeling like it was hours, when really it was only a couple minutes. All of a sudden, I heard Hermione scream. I got up and ran back to the hut. "It's Scabbers!" Jesus Christ, how many times did we have to try to kill that thing?

"What are you talking about?" Ron.

"Hermione, you found Scabbers?" I asked, coming through the door.

"Scabbers! Scabbers, what're you doing here?"

I saw Scabbers, or Pettigrew, or whatever you wanted to call him, writhing in the light. He looked terrible.

Good.

But he was trying very hard to get away. "It's okay, Scabbers!" said Ron. "No cats! Nothing here to try and hurt you!"

"I doubt that very highly," I muttered under my breath.

Hagrid looked out the window and paled. "They're comin'…"

I didn't even bother to turn around. "Harry, Ron, Hermione…we have to go. It'll be terrible for Hagrid if we're here. We shouldn't make things worse."

I headed for the back door, but Harry, Ron, and Hermione stayed behind. "Go. Nicci's righ'. Yeh've gotta get outta here."

Harry, Ron, and Hermione didn't move.

"Hagrid, we can't—"

"We'll tell the what happened—"

"They can't really kill him—"

"Go!" said Hagrid fiercely. "It's bad enough without you lot an' all!"

I grabbed Hermione and Harry's arms and dragged them out. I pulled our cloak over Hermione, and Harry slowly put on his cloak. Obviously, they were not concerned about themselves. But what they didn't realize was that if they were found with Hagrid, it'd be a lot worse than Buckbeak's execution. So I grabbed both Ron and Harry and dragged them behind us.

"Please, let's hurry," Hermione whispered. "I can't stand it, I can't bear it…"

We were walking up the grounds when Ron stopped.

"Ron!" I hissed. "What're you doing?"

"It's Scabbers—he won't—stay put—"

I pulled the cloak off Ron and saw that Pettigrew was flailing wildly, trying to escape Ron's pocket.

"Scabbers, it's me, you idiot, it's Ron," hissed Ron.

"Oh, Ron, please let's move, they're going to do it!" said Hermione, fighting back tears.

"Okay—Scabbers, stay put—"

After only a few seconds of walking, Ron stopped again.

"Oh my God…" I muttered, rolling my eyes.

"I can't hold him—Scabbers, shut up, everyone'll hear us—"

Pettigrew was wailing, but I could still hear men's voices…and after only a few seconds…the swish and thud of an axe.

Hermione was sobbing next to me.

…Wait a minute. A few centuries back, Ben and Hailey had spent a year testing my sense of hearing, perfecting it. And that was not the thud of flesh. That sounded more like wood. Had the executioner hit the fence?

I listened for another thud, but there was none. I didn't know what had gone on down there, but Buckbeak hadn't been hit. The difference between the two was astonishing, now that I listened for it.

But how? And why?

I was broken out of my thoughts by, "What's the matter with him?" cried Ron.

I saw Crookshanks slinking out of the bushes and I smiled. At least one animal was trustworthy.

"Crookshanks," Hermione moaned. "No, go away, Crookshanks, go away!"

But Crookshanks had a job to do—he wasn't going to stop because of Hermione—

"Scabbers, NO!"

Too late—Pettigrew slipped through Ron's fingers and ran off, Crookshanks following closely behind. Ron threw off the Invisibility Cloak and followed. Uh-oh.

I grabbed my Invisibility Cloak off Hermione and sprinted after him; I heard Harry and Hermione come after me.

"Get away from him—get away—Scabbers, come here—"

"No, Ron!" I screamed, no longer caring about Sirius. "Get away from him!"

"Wha—?"

"NO!" I yelled, as heard Sirius come bounding out of the growth. Damn! He bowled over Harry and made for Ron. "If he dies, I'll kill you!"

But it was too late. Sirius was dragging Ron by the arm—"No!" I yelled again.

I heard Harry and Hermione get winded by the Whomping Willow, and moments later I joined them.

"Ron!" Harry shouted.

"Stoppit, Harry, it's no use!" I yelled.

"Harry, Nicci—we've got to go for help—" whispered Hermione frantically.

"We're not doing that," I responded immediately.

"That thing's big enough to eat him!" said Harry at the same time.

"We're never going to get through without help—"

"If that dog can get in, we can," growled Harry.

"Oh, help, help, please," gasped Hermione.

As I watched, Crookshanks slunk under the tree and pressed the knob. The tree stopped moving, and I breathed a sigh of relief. I hadn't wanted to show Harry or Hermione that I knew what was going on until I had to.

"Crookshanks!" cried Hermione, grabbed Harry and mine's arms painfully hard. "How did he know…?"

"He's friends with that dog, I've seen them together," said Harry.

I raised my eyebrows. Harry knew more than I thought.

Harry slipped down through the hole in the trees, followed by Hermione, then me. As we walked, I became the only one who hadn't slipped up or tripped on a tree root.

Suddenly, Harry stopped and looked at me. "You've been here before." It wasn't a question.

"I have," I agreed.

"Where's Ron?" Hermione asked, looking terrified.

"This way," said Harry, bending over and walking down the tunnel.

I grabbed my wand out of my pocket and said, "Lumos." The light from my wand joined Harry's, and we made our way down the passageway.

A/N: Yes! You have no idea how long this chapter took me to write! I know it's only been like four days, but I'm really trying to wrap up Prisoner of Azkaban without rushing it, which made it hard. There are going to be one or two chapters left, depending on how long they are. I'm so excited to move into Goblet of Fire, it's actually kind of creepy.

One thing before I answer a review. Nicci and Alecta are the same person. Alecta Gryffindor is Nicci Lonsen's real name. I'm just making sure everyone understands that, because it seems to be kind of confused.

Little innocent: I have been debating whether to have George ask Nicci to the Yule Ball and have decided against it. That does not mean that they will not have a relationship-like scene there, it just means they're not officially going together. I think I'm going to have Nicci go with Harry, and have Pavarti Patil go with Terry Boot, because Harry only dances in the first dance, which frees up a few hours to put in a scene.

My reason for not having Nicci go with George? Well, it seems like none of the main characters go with the person they ultimately end up with, so why change that? Besides, I'm originally going to have George and Nicci argue quite a bit, so neither one will feel much like asking the other to the Ball.

And yes, of course Ginny and Hermione are going to come to Nicci for advice! It's going to give me some great opportunities for Nicci to go into unknown lands and deal with something she's never really dealt with before. Boys. The idea may seems confusing now, since Alecta's a thousand years old, (you'd think she'd have had some boyfriends) but I'll show you what I mean in Order of the Phoenix.