Dudley and Hermione stared at the hole for a couple of seconds.
"We need to go and get someone," Hermione said, finally. "Lupin or McGonagall or Dumbledore ..."
"No, that thing's big enough to eat her," Dudley argued. "We can't just leave her in there."
"But we don't even know what that thing is," Hermione said. "Dobby!"
"Where?" Dudley looked around.
"No, I mean, you can summon Dobby, send him for help, then we can go and get Lockart."
"Dobby, I need you!" Dudley shouted it, even though he felt that Dobby would come even if he whispered. It just seemed right to shout it.
There was a sharp crack and Dobby appeared. He had added a bow tie to his ensemble.
"Master Duddy Durzy summoned ..."
"Dobby, I need your help," Dudley said. "Luna's in trouble. I need you to fetch help from the castle. Go and get ... I dunno, anyone. The first teacher you see."
"Dobby will obey," the House Elf said and hurried off.
They turned to the tree. It was swinging wildly around. Just as Dudley was about to suggest they run for the hole, Crookshanks darted forward, pressing his paws against a knot in the wood. Immediately the Whomping Willow stopped its flailing.
"Let's go!" Dudley said. He pulled out his wand and led the way inside. Hermione followed close behind, her wand was out too.
"Where does this tunnel lead?" Hermione whispered.
"I dunno, I've never been here before," Dudley said. "I bet even Fred and George haven't if its hid under the Whomping Willow."
On and on they walked, with Crookshanks ahead of them.
"I think it's heading towards Hogsmeade," Hermione whispered. "Wait, hang on!"
She held her wand flat in her hand. "Point me," she said. Her wand spun round.
Dudley gave her a puzzled look.
"It's a spell to find your way. Your wand always points north, so, I think, yes, we're heading towards Hogsmeade," Hermione explained.
Soon, the tunnel began to rise. Moments later it twisted, and Crookshanks had gone. Ahead, Dudley could see a patch of dim light through a small opening.
He and Hermione paused, gasping for breath, edging forward. Both raised their wands to see what lay beyond.
It was a room, a very disordered, dusty room. Paper was peeling from the walls; there were stains all over the floor; every piece of furniture was broken as though somebody had smashed it. The windows were all boarded up.
Dudley glanced at Hermione, who looked very frightened but nodded.
Dudley pulled himself out of the hole, staring around. The room was deserted, but a door to their right stood open, leading to a shadowy hallway. Hermione suddenly grabbed Dudley's arm again. Her wide eyes were traveling around the boarded windows.
"Dudley," she whispered, "I think we're in the Shrieking Shack. "
Dudley looked around. His eyes fell on a wooden chair near them. Large chunks had been torn out of it; one of the legs had been ripped off entirely.
"You think its a poltergeist who lives here?" he said, thinking of Peeves.
At that moment, there was a creak overhead. Something had moved upstairs. Both of them looked up at the ceiling. Hermione's grip on Dudley's arm was so tight he was losing feeling in his fingers. He raised his eyebrows at her; she nodded again and let go.
Quietly as they could, they crept out into the hall and up the crumbling staircase. Everything was covered in a thick layer of dust except the floor, where a wide shiny stripe had been made by something being dragged upstairs.
They reached the dark landing.
"Nox," they whispered together, and the lights at the end of their wands went out. Only one door was open. As they crept toward it, they heard movement from behind it; a low moan, and then a deep, loud purring. They exchanged a last look, a last nod.
Wand held tightly before him, Dudley kicked the door wide open.
On a magnificent four-poster bed with dusty hangings lay Crookshanks, purring loudly at the sight of them. On the floor beside him, clutching her leg, which stuck out at a strange angle, was Luna.
Dudley and Hermione dashed across to him.
"Luna - are you okay?"
"Where's the dog?"
"Not a dog," Luna moaned. Her teeth were gritted with pain. "Dudley, it's a trap -"
"What -"
"Its Stubby Boardman!"
"Who?" Dudley said, puzzled.
Luna was staring over Dudley's shoulder. Dudley wheeled around. With a snap, the man in the shadows closed the door behind them.
A mass of filthy, matted hair hung to his elbows. If eyes hadn't been shining out of the deep, dark sockets, he might have been a corpse. The waxy skin was stretched so tightly over the bones of his face, it looked like a skull. His yellow teeth were bared in a grin. It was Sirius Black.
"Expelliarmus!" he croaked, pointing Luna's wand at them.
Dudley and Hermione's wands shot out of their hands, high in the air, and Black caught them. Then he took a step closer.
"I thought you'd come and help your friend," he said hoarsely. "Gryffindors always do."
Dudley clenched his fists, wanting to dart forward and pummel Black.
"Why are you here?" Hermione whispered. "Whatd do you want?"
"If you'r going to hurt Dudley, we won't let you," Luna said, staggering to her feet. She swayed with the effort.
Something flickered in Black's shadowed eyes.
"Lie down, you'll damage that leg even more," he said to Luna.
"You'll have to kill all three of us," Luna said. "Then the dementors will get you."
"There'll be only one murder here tonight," said Black, and his grin widened.
"Why's that?" Dudley spat, he easily wrenched himself free from Hermione and Luna and stepped forward.
"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?"
"Dudley ... don't!" Hermione whimpered.
"He's a murderer!" Dudley spat. "He killed all those muggles. He killed my auntie and uncle. Now, he's working with Lucius Malfoy to try and kill me!"
Dudley darted forward. Though not as tall as Black, he wa bulkier and Black had withered during his time in Azkaban.
"Dudley, it's not what ..." Black shouted as Dudley's bulk slammed into him.
The year's of dieting had paid off. Dudley, though still massive in size, wasn't as flabby as he was. He was stLunager and faster than before—and he had been tough then, too.
Dudley grabbed Black's skeletal wrist, forcing the wand away and slammed his fist as hard as he could into Black's jaw. The force of the blow knocked Black backwards into a wall.
Hermione was screaming; Luna was yelling; there was a blinding flash as the wands in Black's hand sent a jet of sparks into the air that missed Dudley's face by inches.
There was a clatter as Dudley twisted Black's wrist, forcing him to drop his wand. Dudley raised his right hand again and punched—once, twice, three times!
Black fell to the hall in a heap, unconcious.
Dudley grabbed the wands, gave Luna and Hermione's back and pointed his own at the motionless, crumpled form of Sirius Black.
"What do we do?" he said, uncertainly.
"Back to the castle," Hermione said. "We need to take him to Dumbledore. Dudley, can you carry him? I'll help Luna."
"Just a moment," Luna said, scooping up her hat. "Can't forget Scabbers, can we," she said brightly. She cast a quick spell on the hat, sealing the rim together. "There, now he can't escape."
Muffled footsteps suddenly sounded from below.
"WE'RE UP HERE!" Hermione shouted. "WE'RE UP HERE! SIRIUS BLACK! QUICK!"
The door of the room burst open in a shower of red sparks and Dudley wheeled around as someone entered the room. It was Professor Snape.