HELLLLOOOOO! Who writes good fanfiction? MMMMMEEEEEEEEEE!(Maybe)(Looks like it)
D o I own Harry Potter? NNNNNNOOOOOO!
"And that's what an Animagus is," concluded Hermione, shutting the thick, old book on her lap. They were in the Gryffindor common room, seated shoulder-to-shoulder on one of the red velvet couches.
"So you mean Sirius Black is an Animagus? He can change himself into any animal?" Harry asked, bewildered.
"No, only the animal that matches his personality the most. And yes, he is an Animagus"
"A dog? A shaggy black one at that? I had befriended him. He makes a lovely dog. He has just the right amount of cute and loyalty."
"You met him before? And he didn't kill you?" Hermione questioned him, flummoxed. This was a new side of Sirius Black, apparently. Not to mention the repaired satchel, the Chocolate Frogs and the Firebolt given to him on his birthday.
"Yep. He was a friendly guy, not showing any inclination towards killing me. He gave me some advice, told me I was special."
"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Hermione asked
"Sirius Black may not be guilty," they said at the same time.
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'If Sirius Black is innocent, then why was he in Azkaban?' thought Harry, washing his face at the sink. He was getting ready for bed. Saying goodnight to Ron (he decided he did not like Scabbers. He wished Crookshanks would eat him), he climbed into bed.
A scream and a sudden flurry of activity woke him from a pleasant sleep. Ron was screaming, "Sirius Black! Sirius Black! H-h-h-he-he-he tried to kill me!"
He had turned as pale as a ghost-maybe paler. The curtains around his bed were slashed to ribbons. Neville, Seamus and Dean were petrified with fear. Putting on his glasses, he looked around his dorm, trying to make head or tail of the situation.
"Calm down Ron," began Harry, petting his back, "take a deep breath and tell me what happened."
Ron took several shivering breaths." I was sleeping when I heard someone slash my curtains. I saw Sirius Black with a knife above me, with murder in his eyes. It was so scary..." He began to shiver uncontrollably. Harry saw a patch of wetness form on the clean white sheets on Ron's bed, a stink of urine suddenly pervading the air.
"Let's get you cleaned up," Harry spoke up, resignedly, leading Ron into the bathroom, giving him a pair of clean pyjamas.
Ron had barely emerged from the bathroom, and Harry had disposed of the soiled sheets, when a clack of two pairs of shoes announced the entry of Dumbledore and Madam McGonagall.
Madam McGonagall was the first to speak. "The moment we heard that Sirius Black had managed to enter the dorms, we rushed here. Some of you might be scared out of your wits. Even," she sniffed the air, scrunching up her nose at the acidic smell of urine, "traumatized. But not to worry. We have made arrangements for all of the Gryffindors to sleep in the Great Hall till this 'Sirius Black' menace is settled. "
"Had anyone left a paper with all the passwords of the week written on it?" Dumbledore asked, holding up a piece of paper with words scrawled on it. Out of the corner of his eye, Harry saw Neville gulp. "For whoever left this, aided Sirius Black in entering the tower. That's what Sir Carter told me. This carelessness shall not go unpunished."
All the boys, bar Neville, followed Madam McGonagall as she made her way to the great Hall, where the Gryffindor Prefects were distributing sleeping bags to the children. Harry and his friends collected their bags and made their way to the end of the Hall. There was a lot of chatting, before anyone had some actual sleep.
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A WEEK LATER...
Sprawled on the scarlet couches after many energetic games of Exploding Snap, Harry, Ron and Hermione let their eyes travel across the common room, settling on the Weasley twins, who were up to their tricks again. They offered what looked like a custard cream to an unsuspecting first year, who ate it with relish. He licked his fingers appreciatively when it was finished. "Wait for it," Harry told his friends.
When the first year opened his mouth to thank the twins, all that came out was a chirp. The poor boy started to twitter anxiously when he felt (and saw) pale yellow feathers grow on his hands and feet. Suddenly, a puff of smoke sprung up around him, blocking the sight of him from everyone's eyes, which had turned to watch Fred and George's newest prank.
When the smoke cleared, a grotesque mutation of human and canary greeted the eyes of the eager spectators. The creature had the head of the first year and the body of a canary. His eyes were confused, desperate. He chirped something that sounded something like 'What the hell is happening to me?' This made everyone explode into peals of laughter.
"And this, my friends, is why one must not accept food from any Tom, Dick and Harry. We present our newest invention, Canary Creams!" Fred said, holding up a box.
"Don't worry; they wear off after half an hour," George reassured the boy; then turning to address the crowd around him, he placed his offer," Three Sickles and two Knuts a box! Come and get them now!"
Turning their eyes away from the crowd that had now gathered around their twins, with their piggy banks, the three friends began to talk among themselves; Ron told them how George and Fred aspired to open a joke shop and how they troubled the living daylights out of their mother; Hermione began to chat about the woes of being a kid with overbearing parents, Harry, in turn, told them about some funny event in Potions.
"What's that?" asked Ron, all of a sudden. His eyes were turned to the window, focusing intently on something.
"What?" asked Hermione and Harry in unison.
"That," responded Ron. Seeing the confused looks on his friends' faces, he sighed, and saying, "Come with me," he took their hands and dragged them to the window. "That," he said again, pointing to a shape nearby the Whomping Willow.
"That looks like Professor Lupin," Hermione said, scrunching up her eyes at the shape, "what's he doing there?" The black shape resembling Professor Lupin tapped something underground, near the Whomping Willow, which made it stop its thrashing. Lupin ducked under the branches, and then, he was gone. The Willow resumed its flailing. "Where did he go?" a bewildered Hermione asked.
"That looks like Professor Snape," Harry interjected, seeing another black shape approach the Whomping Willow. He too, vanished from the scene in the same way.
"Are you'll thinking what I'm thinking?" Hermione began.
"I'll get my Cloak," Harry ran up to the boy's dorm, thankful for the diversion the Weasley twins' prank provided.
"Are you sure about this?' Ron questioned, his usual hesitance coming into play.
"Oof! We have enough to deal with here, besides your hesitance, Ronald Weasley!" Hermione answered. Three growing children were a tight fit under an Invisibility Cloak clearly made for one grown man.
Sure, the Whomping willow looked scary from the common room window, but up close, it was downright intimidating. "Now, I know how you'll felt in second year, when your dad's car crashed into this," Hermione said in a small voice.
"Where did Professor Lupin and Snape go?" Harry wondered, stupefied.
"I can see a tunnel underneath the trunk of the tree. There!" Ron exclaimed, pointing. Sure enough, there was a tunnel and what looked like a knot of roots.
"I think that is what we must tap." Hermione said, "On my count, we stupefy the tree, 'cause it's too big for one spell. One! Two! Three! Stupefy!" The tree stood still. Too still. Like the calm before the storm. When Harry approached the knot of roots, the tree began its thrashing. One flailing branch sent Harry flying through the air. He landed heavily in a thicket of bushes, the air puffed out of his lungs.
"I think I broke something," Harry grimaced, trying to stand up. Pure, white-hot pain shot through him, like a bolt of lightning when he placed his right foot on the ground. He could see Ron and Hermione rush towards him, but they looked far off. "Help," Harry called weakly, in what sounded like a hodgepodge of animal sounds.
Amber eyes peered at him through the bushes. A greenish-blue cloud of fireflies approached him. He could hear a distant Hooooooooo... of many owls.
The amber eyes belonged to a glaring of cats, Crookshanks at their lead. They climbed up the bushes, and with the help of the owls, slowly lowered Harry onto the ground. The fireflies illuminated this rescue act. Harry, leaning against a stick one of the owls thrust into his hands, slowly hobbled towards the willow. He bowed his head toward the ground. 'O Mighty One, Guardian of Hogwarts, Please let us enter the tunnel in the bower of your roots. Our professors are there, and we fear for them.' He thought, focusing his thoughts onto the Whomping willow, not sure if his minutes-old idea would work.
'Youngling,' a voice as old as eternity itself reverberated through Harry's mind, making his skull ring, 'why do you want to enter this tunnel? Many perils lie ahead. And youngling, I only heed the orders of the Beastmaster and the Headmaster of Hogwarts.'
'I, Harry Potter, Beastmaster, command you to open up the tunnel in the bower of your roots!'
'As you command, Beastmaster.' The Willow stopped thrashing. The tunnel opened up.
"Get in –Quickly!" Harry told his friends.
"How did you do that?" Ron asked Harry, awed at his abilities. First, he was rescued by animals and now this? Making the Whomping willow do your bidding? That was super cool.
"Shhhh...I can hear something!" Hermione whispered, shushing them both.
The 'something' Hermione heard suddenly came in front of them, illuminated by the Lumos spell at the end of their wands.
"You?"
(Happy dance) I did it! I did it! I created a cliffie! The usual- read, review, fave, follow. And don't like, don't read.
Merry Christmas in advance!
Aayu10 out!