Hey there. Now it's the holidays, at last, I can update more often! OK, here's the next chapter and please R&R! (By the way, anything you recognise from the Harry Potter books doesn't belong to me. Got it? Good!)

"Your third year. The year in which the so-called murderer, Sirius Black, makes a return."

The blood red sun was slowly setting over the Hogwarts grounds when Sirius and Ron appeared. There were standing facing Hagrid's pumpkin patch, where Buckbeak was standing silently with his head down. The back door abruptly opened and Harry stumbled outside, closely followed by Hermione.

"Yeh gotta go," Hagrid said, "They mustn' find yeh here...go on, now…"

"Hagrid, we can't-"

"We'll tell them what really happened-"

"They can't kill him-"

"Go you two!" Harry said fiercely, "it's bad enough without you two in trouble an' all!"

Harry and Hermione sighed in dismay and threw the Invisibility Cloak over them both. Strangely enough, Sirius and Ron could still see them. They watched as the duo scrambled away, as fast as the cloak would permit them. Throwing a last glance at the broken Hagrid, Sirius and Ron followed them towards Hogwarts.

"Hey! Wait a second!" Harry suddenly cried out,

"What?" asked Hermione, "Please can we go? I don't want to hear…"

"It's Scabbers!" exclaimed Harry, reaching down to the grass,

"Scabbers?" said Hermione, blankly, "Ginny's pet rat?"

"Yeah! She was in tears the other day 'cause she'd lost him. Let's take him back to her. She'll be so pleased!"

"OK," agreed Hermione, and they began to make their way to the castle one again.

Another twenty paces or so, Harry and Hermione came to a sudden halt again.

"Oh please Harry!" Hermione begged, "Let's go!"

"It's Scabbers- he won't- stay put-". Harry was bent over, trying to stop Scabbers from escaping but the rat was going berserk. "Come on, Scabbers! Arghh!"

"What?" asked Hermione, anxiously, her fingers in her mouth,

"He bit me! Scabbers bit me!" said Harry, loudly,

"Shh!" hissed Hermione, "They'll hear us!"

"Ah no!" groaned Harry, as Scabbers slipped through his fingers and ran away through the tall green grass. "We have to get him!"

"Harry- I really don't think…" began Hermione, before she was dragged after Harry.

They sprinted towards the Forbidden Forest: their hearts thudding wildly. Then the rat made a sudden detour and charged to the Whomping Willow, who looked particularly violent this evening.

"Oh no!" breathed Harry, Hermione and Ron.

Sirius looked every so slightly amused. After all, he knew that Scabbers- or Wormtail as he knew him- would freeze the tree. Ron hadn't seen the tree stopping moving originally because Sirius had already dragged him into the tunnel.

Everybody watched as the rat snuck under the flailing branches of the Whomping Willow and gently pressed the knot. The tree froze immediately. Harry sighed in relief and darted forward to catch Scabbers. Unfortunately, Scabbers scampered into the tunnel and disappeared with a flick of his worm like tail.

"We have to go in after him!" said Harry,

"But... the suns setting! Its past curfew! We shouldn't be out here!" said Hermione, anxiously, peering around as if she imagined a teacher would suddenly appear out of the shadows and clap them into detention.

"Ginny would never forgive me if she found out!" exclaimed Harry,

"You don't even know Ginny!" shot back Hermione, "She's just the red haired girl in the year below us!"

"I'm going in!" said Harry, "Before this stupid tree starts moving again!"

He crouched down and crawled into the tight space leading down into the tunnel. Hermione groaned and followed him, casting nervous looks over her shoulder from time to time. In ten seconds, both Harry and Hermione were gone.

"I can't believe they don't know my sister!" raged Ron, "They get on really well with her normally!"

"Well you introduced them to her!" said Sirius, "And obviously because you're dead…"

"Alright, alright!" said Ron, "Are we going after them?"

"No," answered Sirius, simply.

Ron didn't even bother to reply. Sirius' tone had made the conversation seem final. The sun cast its last few rays over the lake, before finally sinking in the far distance. A chilly wind set in and the branches on the Whomping Willow began creaking, as they regained movement. Nothing was exchanged between the two ghosts, apart from a brief conversation of what might be happening inside the Shrieking Shack.

About fifteen minutes later, the tree suddenly froze again and Sirius and Ron watched as Harry and Hermione clambered out. Harry was clutching Scabbers.

"Erm, where are you and Professor Lupin and Snape?" asked Ron, confused,

"Well, because I didn't know that you had Wormtail so I didn't come after you, did I?" explained Sirius,

"But Harry said Ginny had Scabbers! So wouldn't you have seen him with Ginny on the Daily Prophet?" said Ron,

"No. I believe Ginny had left Wormtail in the hotel room 'cause he was ill. Ron, do you realise that because you weren't born, I am now stuck in Azkaban for life and Harry never knows about Wormtail?" said Sirius,

"Oh," was all Ron said, "Oh."