Author's note: Teehee, I got a hold of the book, so the Shrieking Shack will go much better than it probably would have.

Once more, I own none of Rowlings characters, even though having the idea myself would have been beyond awesome.

*~*

Vanessa woke up, stretching out. Her hand hit something, and as she sat up in a flash, her eyes shot open. Jarek smiled, chuckling at her.

"Good morning." He greeted calmly, gazing at her state of disorder. She dashed away like a rabbit. He laughed, then stretched out on the couch. He had gone to sleep, too, but he had put himself back after he woke up so that he would be there for her when she woke. Harry and Ron entered the common room in a rush, and he waved at them.

Five minutes later she came back down, dressed in fresh robes and her hair brushed. He stood as she walked up to him brightly. "Good morning." She sang.

"How did you sleep?" he asked, walking out of the portrait door with her.

"Very peacefully." She looked up at him through her lashes. "Did you sleep at all?"

"Of course I did. Now come on, let's get to breakfast."

Luna was waiting for them. "There seems to be a problem with Hagrid." She noted dreamily. "He looks very dreadful."

"Oh, today is when Buckbeak… Oh, poor Hagrid…" Victoria sighed.

Classes went on almost as usual, though Victoria noticed that Harry and the other two looked squirmy and anxious. She asked Hermione what was up.

"We're going to visit Hagrid today during dinner. Would you like to come?"

"Yeah. He probably needs all the support he can get…" Victoria replied, sympathetic.

"Victoria Black, would you pay attention?"

She sat back up and faced Snape, who was looking down his nose at her disapprovingly. She smiled and his expression seemed to not be so harsh. "Now turn to pages eight and nine and tell me what the effects of the potions listed there make them similar but completely different…Potter."

Harry scowled as he turned to the page.

They met up in Hagrid's cabin after walking through the grounds, all of them barely fitting under Harry's Invisibility Cloak, and met the heartbroken half-giant who scolded them for coming when he had said not to. Hermione was getting the teapot when she screamed and dropped it.

As soon as Ron shouted his rat's name, Victoria had honed in on it and jumped out of her chair, grabbing it. Suddenly she hated this rat, she didn't know why, but squeezing it would be so easy…

Ron took the rodent from her, saying thanks repeatedly. She snapped back to reality and feigned support, yay he has his blasted rat back. They talked about the damned thing and how he could've got there and how Crookshanks must have frightened the poor thing, he was so old…

So they had tea and then came the knock on the door. Hagrid sent them out the backdoor, where they fled out into the pumpkin patch to hide.

"Should we go back to the castle?" Victoria whispered as they all watched a collection of people enter the house. Dumbledore was one of them, and though the window she saw the headmaster pat Hagrid's arm in an effort to comfort him. Lucius was there, and she noted where much of Draco's looks come from. There was a large (though not in comparison to Hagrid) man in the group, fondling an axe. She thought beheading a very archaic method of execution.

"We can't, we'd be seen." Harry whispered back.

Jarek seemed bouncy. Victoria gave him a look.

"What? Despite the circumstance, hiding from the Ministry is jolly good fun."

She grinned. "You are such a dork."

"You love it."

Blushing, she said nothing to that.

"Gah!" Ron exclaimed. Hermione scolded him. "He bit me. Scabbers bit me. Hey!"

The rat escaped from him, and Ron took off after it. Harry cursed, and the rest of them had to go after him. Not far away was the Whomping Willow. Ron managed to get his rat again, and then Victoria saw him. She didn't understand what he was up to, though, as he grabbed the boy's leg and pulled him down under the tree.

Harry and Hermione started to panic. Jarek circled the tree.

"There's and entrance to under the tree."

"Really? And here I thought the tree ate them." Vicotria cracked. Jarek stuck his tongue out at her.

"How do we get through?" Hermione asked, trying to dart through the snapping branches, but to no avail.

"I don't know!" Harry answered. They both where getting cut by the tree.

An orange dart zoomed under the reach of the branches, pushing its paws on a knot in the trunk. The branches froze. Jarek immediately dove inside, and Victoria rushed after him.

"Crookshanks…How did he know?"

"He's in on it with that dog! I've seen them together."

Victoria heard Harry and Hermione follow her. The tunnel crept under the ground, and then they hit an actual room. Standing straight, she stood next to Jarek, who was looking into a room through a crack in the door. They all heard Ron whimpering.

"I think this is the Shrieking Shack." Hermione whispered. Harry nodded.

"That's what I thought."

"Harry, he's hurt!"

"When is he going to grow some?" Jarek asked.

Harry slugged him. "Come on." They entered the room, seeing only Ron with a broken leg on a bed and some very wrecked furniture. His face was as red as his hair from the pain.

"Ron. Are you alright?"

"Where's the dog?" Jarek asked, looking around.

"It's no dog…" Ron muttered through his pain. "He's the dog… He's an Animagus!"

The lot of them heard the door shut behind them. Victoria whirled and saw him again. She wanted to ask what he was up to, but..

In this light, her father looked even worse for the wear. His face was sunken, starved looking, and he had a wildly triumphant gleam in his eye.

"Expelliarmus!" he growled, and all wands, including hers, flung themselves to the father. What was going on? Was she wrong? Was he truly guilty, and she had let her love get in the way? Would he hurt her? Her friends? She saw his eyes flicker to hers for a moment, and she thought, Maybe he's just making sure they don't think I helped. It would be awfully weird if he didn't take my wand as well as the others.

"I thought you'd come and help your friend," he told Harry. "Your father would have done the same for me. Brave of you, not to run for a teacher. I'm grateful ... it will make everything much easier. ..."

Harry moved as if to attack her father, even being wandless, but Hermione stopped him.

"No, Harry!"

"If you want to kill Harry, you'll have to kill us too!" Ron cried out, though the effort of joining his friends made the blood drain from his face, and he fell against the bed.

Victoria saw compassion in her father's eyes as he looked over at Ron.

"Lie down," he told Ron quietly. Victoria knew he wasn't going to hurt anybody. "You will damage that leg even more."

"Did you hear me?" Ron said weakly. "You'll have to kill all three of us!"

"There'll be only one murder here tonight," said Sirius. His grin widened, the mad triumph back in his eyes.

"Why's that?" spat Harry furiously. "Didn't care last time, did you? Didn't mind slaughtering all those Muggles to get at Pettigrew. ... What's the matter, gone soft in Azkaban?" Victoria thought he was pushing his luck a little much. Taunting a man he believed to be a murderer was a little foolhardy… Apparently Hermione agreed.

"Harry!" the bushy-haired girl whimpered. "Be quiet!"

"HE KILLED MY MUM AND DAD!" Harry yelled, his fury echoing through the room. He lunged at Sirius, trying to hit as much of the man as he could. Sparks shot out of the wands Sirius was holding. Ron and Hermione were yelling, and Jarek…

Jarek was staring at the rat, which was going crazy, Ron barely being able to hold onto it.

Victoria focused back on the fight, and saw her father catch Harry's throat.

"No," he hissed. "I've waited too long ..." Harry choked. Vanessa saw Hermione move to kick her father, but she pushed the girl aside and pulled her father off of Harry.

He smelled horribly of dog…

He dropped the wands as he was pulled back onto Victoria, and Harry dove for his. The cat came from nowhere, leaping off the bed. (Author's Note: I realize that is an oxymoron, but it's also a figure of speech.)

Harry cried out as the cat attacked him, and he tried to shake him off. The cat dove for Harry's dropped wand, but Harry snarled, "NO YOU DON'T!" and kicked Crookshanks out of the way, diving for his wand. "Get out of the way!" he called to Hermione and Ron, pointing the wand at Sirius' heart. Jarek pulled Victoria out of the way, stopping her from stopping Harry.

"Going to kill me, Harry?" Her father whispered. She thought he looked scared.

"You killed my parents," Harry accused again.

"I don't deny it," Sirius admitted, shrugging, his eyes pleading. "But if you knew the whole story."

"The whole story?" mimicked Harry, snarling again. "You sold them to Voldemort. That's all I need to know."

"You've got to listen to me," pleaded Sirius. "You'll regret it if you don't. ... You don't understand. ..."

"I understand a lot better than you think," said Harry, his voice unsteady. "You never heard her, did you? My mum ... trying to stop Voldemort killing me ... and you did that ... you did it. ..."

The cat jumped onto her father's chest, remining her quite randomly of Pocahontas. She really should stop watching muggle movies…

"Get off," Sirius muttered, but Crookshanks was a cat, and cats had the habit of not listening when they didn't want to. Harry raised the wand, as if preparing himself to act. But they continued to wait. Victoria pulled toward him, but Jarek continued to hold her back.

"Let me go." She muttered to him

"No."

They all heard the footsteps. Hoping Jarek was distracted, she tried to pull away again. Nope, not happening. He adjusted his hold on her to around her waist, holding her tightly against him.

"WE'RE UP HERE!" Hermione yelled. "WE'RE UP HERE--SIRIUS BLACK--QUICK!"