Hey guys! Another Friday. Man this week just sort of flew by. Ha. Anyway. This chapter is the longest in a while. Before the authors note it is 4900 words on the nose. I can't believe this is almost over already. I digress. A lot happens this chapter and it ends in a big cliffhanger, or at least I believe it is a big cliffhanger, if it's anything to go by my best friend/editor yelled at me for ending it like this. It was very entertaining. (I love you Persephone Rosamunde, my wonderful editor!) Next week I upload the last chapter and unfortunately that one is very short compared to all the chapters of this story. I plan to crack the whip on myself and get more work done on Volume Two, I tried last night and the night before, but my internet and I are in the middle of a war and I'm losing. I hope you guys enjoy this and I am very sorry if you feel it is rushed or anything throughout this fic was. You need to read my previous A/N's to understand my thinking. This story has had 188 views since I started posting it... I believe that that is a decent number considering this is a story with an OC. Thank you to those people and to my reviewers. As I've said before, I have a story to tell and I believe it can be a good story, or else I wouldn't have wasted my time in writing this.

Disclaimer: I own nothing but my OC.

Chapter 9

No one in Gryffindor tower slept that night. The castle had to be searched again and we were all waiting for McGonagall to return. I knew that they wouldn't find anything. If I am right, Black left the tower, turned into his dog form, and ran out of the castle and down the hole at the base of the Whomping Willow. Out of curiosity, I had looked out one of the windows toward the Willow, and I noticed that instead of the limbs swaying with the wind, it was unnaturally still. I had watched it for a moment before it suddenly started moving again. That told me that there was definitely a way to keep the Willow from flailing its branches.

Later McGonagall came back, and, as I had predicted, she only told us that Black had escaped once again.

The next day extra security measures had been taken. Flitwick was teaching the doors at the Entrance Hall to recognize Black from a giant picture. Filch had also been going throughout the castle and essentially sealing up any secret entrance, hole, or crack he could find. Ron, Harry, and I noticed that the statue of the one eyed witch on the third floor remained unguarded.

"Do you think we should tell someone about it?" Harry asked us.

"It's unlikely that that is how he is getting into the castle," I assured them. "He wouldn't risk getting caught entering a place like Honeydukes."

Harry was exceedingly relieved to hear me say this. He would have been devastated if he lost his chances to go to Hogsmeade.

Ron had become somewhat of a celebrity since the incident. He was more than happy to share the details of his experience, although it had shaken him to his core. According to Ron, he was asleep and he heard ripping noises. He attributed them to a dream he could have been having. But then he felt a draft, so he rolled over after seeing that one side of the hangings on his bed. Once he rolled over he had seen Black standing there in all his glory. He was holding a knife that got longer every time he told the story. They looked at each other, then Ron screamed and he fled.

"Why though?" he had asked Harry one of the times after he told the story. "Why did he run?"

While I am sure Harry is wondering the same thing, the thing I am wondering is why he was ripping up Ron's hangings. I find myself with one more piece to a puzzle I can't figure out. The first time he entered the castle he did it when no one was in the common room. Then he came in while everyone is sleeping. He is too methodical in his thinking to have just picked the wrong bed. Even if that was the case, he could have just killed Ron, he has no problem killing innocent people, which was proven when he used that curse to take out those muggles twelve years ago. The only reason why I think he wouldn't run is because he was up against five unarmed boys, four of them sleeping. Then he would have had to kill the students in all the dorms of Gryffindor tower because they would have been awakened by the commotion. None of this makes sense. I once again find myself with the frustrating thought that there is something I missed that would clear up this whole picture.

Poor Neville was disgraced. McGonagall was so livid with him that she banned him from all future Hogsmeade visits for the year, given him detention, and forbidden anyone from giving him the password to the tower. He was forced to wait outside the tower every night until someone came to let him in. The worst punishment came from his grandmother, who had sent him a Howler. I had to ask what one was but I was only told to listen. The morning it came, Neville had turned as pale as death and he bolted for outside the Great Hall. He could not leave in time unfortunately, because as he left a magically enhanced voice of a woman that shrieked like a banshee, telling him he has disgraced the family. Even I felt a little sorry for him, which surprised me because I am supposed to be incapable of it. I attributed it to what little memories I had recovered from the train ride giving me a kind of ghost emotion.

Harry and Ron had received an invitation to Hagrid's that same day at breakfast. They left at around six in the afternoon. They returned sometime later talking about Gryffindor's improved chances at the cup. There was a group of people clustering around the bulletin board announcing another Hogsmeade visit for the next visit. I watched them from my seat three feet from them.

"Are you gonna go?" Ron asked Harry quietly.

"Well," Harry replied, "Filch hasn't sealed the path on the third floor yet."

"Harry!" Hermione said from the table adjacent the line from me to them.

Harry jumped and turned around, noticing her for the first time.

"Harry, if you go into Hogsmeade again, I will tell McGonagall about the map!" she said with determination.

"Can you hear someone talking, Harry?" Ron growled out, looking at her with a pretty fierce glare.

"Ron, how can you let him go with you? After what Sirius Black nearly did to you! I mean it. I'll tell—" she pleaded.

"So, now you are trying to get Harry expelled!" Ron declared. "Haven't you done enough damage this year?"

Hermione made to respond, but Crookshanks leapt onto her with a small hiss. She took one look at Ron's expression, then gathered up her cat and fled to the dormitories.

"So, how about it?" Ron asked as if there had never been an interruption. "Come on, you haven't even been in Zonko's yet, and you barely saw anything the last thing we went. And you!" he said turning to me, "You haven't gone at all. Why not come with us?"

"I have to meet Dumbledore," I easily replied. "Heartless talk, etc."

"That's too bad," Ron said, turning back to Harry. "Well?"

"Alright," he conceded, "but I am bringing the cloak this time."

The meeting with Dumbledore was quick seeing as how the only things I had to discuss were my confusion on the Sirius Black issue and the fact that I was figured out by the trio. Somehow I was not surprised to see that he expected me to be found out eventually. Regarding the Black affair, I feel as though he is keeping something from me, but I decide to not press the issue. Either way, he heard what I had to say before letting me go after offering me some strange sweet that I had never heard of.

Apparently I was in the meeting longer than I thought because I ran into Harry and Ron on the way back to Gryffindor tower. Then I saw from out one of the windows that it was early in the afternoon.

"You're back early," I told them as they ran up the stairs to walk along with me.

"Malfoy saw Harry," Ron breathed.

"I thought you took the cloak." I said

"I did," Harry confirmed, "Malfoy tried to get into it with Ron by trash talking Hagrid, so I threw snowballs at them. The cloak slipped off enough for them to see my head. I ran back as quickly as I could, only to run into Snape as I was leaving the secret passage."

"Did you get in trouble?" I asked.

"No, I left the cloak in the passage," he explained. "Then he brought me to his office and accused me of being in Hogsmeade. I lied but he knew. He made me empty my pockets and I had the map with me."

"So, now Snape has the map," I deduced.

"No," Ron answered.

"Snape tried to get the map to work, but it only insulted him," Harry said, noticing my questioning look. "Then he flooed Lupin and he showed up and took the map."

"Why Lupin?" I asked, wondering why Snape would do that.

"I don't know," Ron said, "but Lupin knows it is a map. He even said he met the Marauders."

"That's probably what Snape meant," Harry said to Ron.

"What are you talking about?" I inquired of Harry.

"I told Snape it was an item from Zonko's," Harry elaborated. "He flooed Lupin and showed it to him. Lupin dismissed it and Snape said that he thought it was an item given to me directly by the creators. I didn't know what he had meant by that."

"Interesting," I said while folding my arms and resting my chin on my hand.

"What's interesting," Ron asked.

"Nothing important," I replied.

That was obviously a lie. Lupin knowing the map was a map was an interesting turn of events because he knew it existed. That got me to thinking. He claimed that he had met the Marauders, and it appears Snape knew them as well. Then, like a punch to the face, it struck me. I let a smirk of triumph appear on my face as we got to the seventh floor and headed to the portrait of the Fat Lady, who had been reinstated since Black's last visit. I needed to have a talk with our werewolf professor as soon as I could.

My thoughts were interrupted as Hermione came out of the portrait hole and came toward us. I looked at her face and noticed that she had a look of despair. She was clutching a letter in one of her hands and she looked like she was trying to keep herself from losing it.

"What?" Ron demanded obviously misinterpreting her expression. "Come to have a good gloat, or have you just turned us in."

"No," she replied shakily, "I just thought you should know that Hagrid lost. Buckbeak is going to be executed."

I was not surprised to hear this. I knew that Malfoy's father would have plenty of influence, and I knew that Hagrid would have a hard time making his case because of his confidence issues. She handed the letter to Harry.

"He—he sent me this," she told him while he opened the tear stained parchment.

Dear Hermione

We lost. I'm 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.

Hagrid

"They can't do this," Harry said. "Buckbeak isn't dangerous."

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

"Yeah it will!" Ron interrupted with ferocity. "You don't have to do it alone this time, Hermione, I'll help."

"Oh, Ron!"

Hermione seemed to radiate relief. She threw herself at him, embracing him and breaking down. He seemed frightened by this and awkwardly patted her head. Harry and I exchanged a look and I am sure that one thought went through his mind, it's about damn time.

"Ron, I'm really, really sorry about Scabbers…" she sobbed when she drew away from him.

"Oh—well—he was old," he dismissed completely flustered. "And he was a bit useless. You never know, Mum and Dad might get me an owl now."

We could not go and console Hagrid that evening because of the extra security measures in place. Meaning it was up to the kids to do it when they had his class. Thankfully they had his class the next day while I had potions. After class I made my way up to the Entrance Hall just in time to see Hermione smack Malfoy in the face. I was so surprised by this that I froze in place and watched. Malfoy staggered back and the others looked bewildered as she raised her hand again.

"Don't you dare call Hagrid pathetic, you foul—you evil—"

"Hermione!" Ron said weakly as he tried to grab her hand and hold her back.

"Get off, Ron!" she bellowed.

She pulled out her wand and pointed it at the terrified, ferret faced, 13 year old who had stepped back. Crabbe and Goyle looked at him as if they were awaiting orders.

"C'mon," Malfoy said meekly.

The three then left and walked past me to head down into the dungeons.

"Hermione!" Ron said, looking impressed.

"That was great," I admitted announcing my presence.

"You better beat Malfoy in the quidditch final Harry," she ordered, turning to him. "I won't be able to stomach it if Slytherin wins."

"Don't worry," Harry said. "I will. We better get going. We have Charms."

"And I have Transfiguration," I told them walking away.

The rest of the day went smoothly. There was a bit of drama when I came back to the common room in the evening. Hermione was sitting in one of the chairs, fuming. When I asked her what got her, she ranted about how her Divination lesson earlier that day. She commented on the obvious fake aspects of the class, resulting in Trelawney calling her mundane, and that resulted in her storming out of the class.

The Easter Holidays came around and the quidditch final was drawing closer. Everyone seemed to be bogged down with homework and the inter house animosity between Slytherin and Gryffindor had been reaching a fevered pitch. I found that I couldn't think about anything at the moment. The reality had hit me that I had been in this world for about eight months. I find myself growing impatient at the star shard's lack of a desire of moving me. I knew that I was safe here, but every day that went by increased my expectations of it going off. Just to make sure that it was still alive, I chose a time when no one was around to inspect it, and sure enough I could still feel my own energy flowing through it. Dumbledore could sense my unease and tried to assure me that I have nothing to worry about, but he knows full well that I don't worry.

The days before the quidditch final were nothing short of chaotic. Harry was guarded whenever he wandered the castle, and the Slytherins had constantly tried to sabotage him. Wood had been on his case for weeks, drilling into his head what needed to happen in order for them to win. It got to Harry so much that he eventually blew up on him; much to the entertainment of the twins.

The morning of the match came and the first thing I noticed when I entered the Great Hall was that Harry seemed to have something on his mind. I walked over and sat across from him.

"Something wrong," I asked.

"Just nervous about the match," he replied.

"Don't lie," I said, and he looked up at me. "I can tell something else is wrong, I can sense it."

"You're so creepy when you do that," he told me before he sighed. "Do you remember the big black dog I've told you about?"

"The one you've convinced yourself is the Grim?" I replied, knowing what he was referring to.

"Yeah," he said, "I saw it again last night."

I raised an eyebrow and gestured for him to continue.

"I woke up last night and got some water from the jug on the windowsill in my room. I saw Crookshanks, of all creatures, walking across the grounds. He got to the edge of the forest and I saw the dog come out of the forest. Then they both came toward the castle," he explained. "I mean, if the cat could see it, how can it be an omen for my death?"

"That's because it isn't," I told him, taking on a thoughtful expression. "I never believed it was."

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"I'll tell you later," I told him. "Worry about the cup first."

He automatically started to focus and he finished his breakfast.

The weather for the final was the complete opposite of what it was. The sun was out and there was no wind. It was almost as if nature itself anticipated the match.

The match itself was the epitome of barbarism. The whole match was essentially the Slytherins making dirty plays such as inappropriately knocking bludgers at the chasers and knocking them off their brooms. The Gryffindor team had easily pulled ahead by the fifty points they needed. Lee Jordan was openly throwing profanities at the Slytherin team and the usually rational, Professor McGonagall, had been shaking her finger at the players with a look of righteous fury. The score had been sixty to ten when Harry had noticed the snitch twenty feet above him and Malfoy, who had been tailing him. Harry then took off after it, but he didn't make it far because Malfoy had lunged forward and, without falling off his broom, grabbed onto the back of Harry's.

Madame Hooch had accosted Malfoy and the game resumed. Harry stuck close enough to Malfoy that they kept bumping into each other. Angelina Johnson had taken the quaffle and was zooming toward the Slytherin goal posts. All the team members minus Malfoy started to head toward her to block. Harry saw this then put on a boost of speed and swept toward the Slytherins. His play worked seeing as how they dispersed, clearing Angelina's path, in order to avoid the Gryffindor seeker.

While Harry had been doing this, Malfoy had seen the snitch and went into a dive. Harry had seen what Malfoy was doing and sped off after him. Malfoy was a long way away, but Harry's Firebolt made the distance easily. Harry had caught up and knocked Malfoy's hand aside in order to, literally, snatch the victory. He pulled up and held out the fruit of his effort. The stands erupted in cheers, and when Harry touched down, he was mauled by a crying Oliver Wood and ecstatic Weasley twins. The chasers were all crying and headed over to embrace their team.

The euphoria of Gryffindor's victory lasted a week before things went back to normal. June was fast approaching and exams were among us. The question of Hermione's classes came up again when Ron got a look at her exam schedule.

Hagrid's appeal date had been set for June 6th, the day that our exams our finished and the executioner will be in attendance.

"Sounds as if they've already decided," Harry had said.

"They have, the hearing is a formality," I replied.

"They can't do this," Ron despaired. "I spent so much time reading up on this."

Ron had sort of taken over researching for Buckbeak's case and was spending about as much time on it as Hermione did.

We had noticed that Malfoy had been slowing regaining some of his swagger since his quidditch defeat. He seemed more confident than ever that Buckbeak was going to be killed, and I agreed with him.

The exams had started and I didn't think they were as bad as all that. Granted I was used to fighting Heartless as a pseudo-living, so I suppose that exams would seem tame. The exams seemed to be routine until the last day. My last exam was Defense Against the Dark Arts. Where Lupin had us going through what was essentially an obstacle course of a various amount of the different creatures he had us cover this year, along with scenarios in which to practice spells like the stunning spell.

After that exam was over, I went to the common room to unload my things. When I was there, Ron and Hermione came in and they had the most despairing looks on their faces.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"Buckbeak lost," Hermione said, close to tears while handing me a letter.

Lost appeal. They're gonna execute at sunset.

Nothing you can do, so don't come down.

I don't want you to see it.

Hagrid

Just as I had finished the letter, Harry burst through the portrait hole.

"Guys," he said while panting, "Professor Trelawney, she just told me—"

Ron and Hermione interrupted him and handed him the letter.

"We've got to go," he said immediately. "He can't just sit there on his own, waiting for the executioner."

"Sunset though," Ron pointed out. "We'd never be allowed, especially you, Harry."

Harry sank when Ron said this.

"If only we had the invisibility cloak…" Harry said with a defeated tone.

"Where is it?" Hermione asked.

Harry told her he left it in the passageway to Honeydukes.

"If Snape sees me anywhere near there again, I'll be in trouble," he finished.

"That's true," Hermione said as she got to her feet… How do you open the witch's hump again?"

"You—you tap it twice and say, 'Dissendium.'" Harry explained with a confused look.

"You're going to get it aren't you?" I asked.

She didn't bother answering me. Instead she left the common room and went through the portrait hole. With her gone for at least the next five minutes, I turned to Harry.

"What were you saying about Trelawney?"

"What?" he replied. "Oh, I had my exam with her and when she said I was finished I turned to leave, but then she started shaking and speaking in this strange voice."

Ron had become interested and I was having flashbacks to my first divination lesson.

"Do you know what she said?" I asked.

"Yeah, hold on," he replied as he started thinking. "She said something like this, 'It will happen tonight. The Dark Lord lies alone and friendless, abandoned by his followers. His servant has been chained these twelve years. Tonight, before midnight… The servant will break free and set out to rejoin his master. The Dark Lord will rise again with his servant's aid, greater and more terrible than ever he was. Tonight the servant will set out to rejoin his master.'"

"That's creepy," Ron said.

I didn't get a chance to say anything else because Hermione came back into the common room with an arm full of invisibility cloak.

"Hermione," Ron breathed. "I don't know what has gotten into you lately. First you hit Malfoy, then you walk out on Trelawney—"

Hermione blushed at the praise.

Harry stuffed the invisibility cloak on him as we went to dinner and once dinner was finished the four of us were going to sneak out onto the grounds. Once dinner was finished, I waited with the three for the Great Hall to clear out. Just as Harry threw his cloak over us, my senses picked up on darkness for the first time in about a month.

"Not now," I whispered.

"What is it?" Hermione asked, concerned.

"There are Heartless on one of the levels above us," I told them. "I need to go take care of it. Tell Hagrid I'm sorry."

They let me out of the cloak and I broke into a run out of the hall and up the staircase. I followed my senses to the third floor and they led me outside the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom. I realized that Lupin was probably under attack, so I donned my coat just in case there was someone else in the room and I kicked the door open.

I entered the room to see Lupin behind his desk with his wand out, pointed at about a dozen shadow Heartless that decided that it would be a good idea to attack him all at once. The Heartless were all suspended in the air and appeared to be frozen, as if someone had hit a pause button.

"Well, it's about time you showed up," Lupin said, relieved.

"What did you do?" I asked, genuinely curious as I took my hood off, pulled out my wand, made them change into my blades, and casually sliced through all the frozen opposition as I made my way to his desk.

"A little spell called, 'Immobulus,'" He told me as he put his wand away. "I see that the others decided to break the rules and go to see Hagrid."

It was then that I noticed that the open Marauder's Map was lying on his desk.

"Well from what I've heard Harry is his father's son," I said. "Isn't that right, Moony?"

He did not do a very good job at hiding his surprise.

"I figured it out when Harry told me you took the map and that you knew what it was," I explained. "I then made the correlation between your fake name and what you turn into. So, who were the others?"

He sat down with a resigned sigh.

"As you know I was Moony. Other than that, James Potter was Prongs, Peter Pettigrew was Wormtail, and—"

"Sirius Black was Padfoot," I finished. "I ran into him on Halloween and he turned into a dog in order to send me down a flight of stairs. I know how he is getting onto the grounds, but I don't know how he is getting passed the Whomping Willow."

He raised an eyebrow at me.

"Why didn't you say anything?" he asked me folding his hands together.

"Because something about this whole affair isn't right," I told him. The first night he broke into the castle was a night that no one was in the dormitories. Then the second time he ripped the hangings on Ron's bed. I have been under the impression that he was after Harry. Even if it was a case of mistaken identity, he could have just killed Ron, he has killed innocents before. His moves are methodical, and more recently, I've realized that when I confronted him, I couldn't sense any darkness in his heart."

Lupin appeared to be pondering something.

"What is it?" I inquired.

"It doesn't make sense to me either. The map has shown him appear on the grounds more than once, but it also says that he is with that cat of Miss. Granger's." he explained.

"Harry said he saw them together," I said. "Although he has no idea that Black is an animagus. And Crookshank's is the cat that has been relentlessly pursuing Ron's…" I paused.

"What is it?" he said, noticing my pause.

"That map shows animals, has it ever shown Ron's rat, Scabbers?" I asked.

"Well, no, not since I've had it," he answered.

"Has it shown any strange name on there that shouldn't be besides Black's?"

"Well…" he began apprehensively.

"Spit it out," I ordered in my regular tone, "You're talking to a shell of a person here it can't be that bad."

"The map has showed the name Peter Pettigrew on multiple occasions," he relented.

I was surprised by this, but then all of a sudden something clicked that made everything make perfect sense.

"He was an Animagus, correct?" I asked.

"Yes," Lupin answered. "He turned into a…" He drew it out as if coming to a realization.

"He turned into a rat," I finished. "More importantly, he has been stuck as a rat for the past, almost thirteen years. He is Ronald Weasley's rat. That fits. The reason Black waited for Halloween and then attacked Ron's bed was because he is after Pettigrew, not Harry."

"But I thought that his rat was eaten in the winter." Lupin said.

"We all thought that, but then Sirius came into the tower anyway. Pettigrew is still alive, he is just hiding. Sirius has been waiting to come after him." I deduced.

"But why?" Lupin pondered. "Why waste the effort."

"I wouldn't have known if you asked me an hour ago," I told him as I put my gloved hands on his desk. "Harry came into the common room after his divination exam and told me that Trelawney made a prophecy, although he doesn't know that is what it was.

I proceeded to tell him what he told me of the prophecy.

"The Dark Lord's servant being chained for twelve years," Lupin said. "Sirius got out about a year ago."

"It's barely evidence, but I am confident in saying that this plus the fact that I didn't sense an inordinate amount of darkness tells me that Sirius is innocent of his crimes from thirteen years ago," I conclude. "I think that Pettigrew framed him and has been stuck, hiding as a rat until tonight."

"We have to do something." Lupin said as he stood.

"We need to tell Dumbledore," I told him.

I turned to leave, but Lupin halted me. I turned around and he pointed at the map. Out on the grounds we saw what looked to be Sirius Black dragging Ron Weasley and Peter Pettigrew under the Willow and Harry and Hermione giving chase.

"How?" I asked.

"There is a knot under the Willow," he elaborated. "If it is pressed, the tree freezes temporarily."

"We need to go follow," I said.

I turned to leave, but I was stopped once again.

"What is that?" Lupin asked.

The thing he was referring to was the glowing in my coat. I placed my hand in my pocket and drew out an object.

"I'm out of time," I told him.

My star shard had just activated after ten months.

So? How was that ending. Are you guys like, "What the hell, man?" or "pfft, whatever," or "Why!" I was kinda proud of myself for ending it like that. Anyway. Leave your thoughts. I accept anonymous reviews and I always try to respond to your feedback. Just ask "TheAbsolutistsCreed," we got into a very enlightening discussion and I very much enjoyed it. And for those who are curious... I am a male. So I wanted to clear that up because most ff authors are female. Anyway. See you next week when I can finally file this story under complete.