"We've got to save him!" Harry lunged forward just as a branch from the tree came swooping down and knocked the wind out of him. He jumped up quickly and backed up to where the girls were standing. "C'mon, just duck past all the branches, we can do this for Ron," Harry held their hands and bravely moved forward.
"Wait, Harry!" Hermione pulled him back. She pointed at something moving towards the tree. He followed her finger and saw Crookshanks, the orange cat, walking briskly in the direction of the trunk. He was small enough that the limbs of the tree didn't attack him. He stood on his hind legs and put his front paws on a knot in the tree. Immediately, the tree froze in the position it was in. No longer the whomping Willow, Harry led the way to where Crookshanks sat waiting for them to go through. It was a small opening in the trunk that led down and out away from the grounds. Harry deposited the Invisibility Cloak at the base of the tree, thinking they didn't need it anymore.
"I wonder where this leads to." Hermione voiced aloud, following Harry and Lucy into the Whomping Willow. Lucy held tightly to Harry's hand, afraid of the black dog and tight space.
"I don't know Hermione. It's on the map but Fred and George don't even know where it goes to. It leads off the Hogwarts grounds so I assume it's in Hogesmeade, or somewhere near." He said, bending low in the tunnel. They walked for several minutes, the tunnel going deeper and deeper. It felt at least as long as the trip to Honeyduke's. Lucy was starting to get more scared and Hermione was nervous as to what was coming. But Harry didn't let them catch their bearings as he thought about what that dog was going to do to Ron.
Soon, the tunnel was starting to move upright and Harry found a trapdoor at the top. He climbed through cautiously, and then pulled Lucy and Hermione up when he didn't see any danger. He looked around at their surroundings more closely. It was dark and dank inside; rather damp too. The walls were decaying wood and there was no furniture or decorations. The floor was covered with a layer of dust and dirt while the walls had what looked like claw marks in it.
"Stay close to me," he beckoned the girls closer. Hermione was looking around curiously as they tentatively climbed a set of creaky stairs.
"Harry, I think we're in the Shrieking Shack," she said, turning to face him. Before he could respond, the floor above them creaked and Lucy let out a yelp. Harry quickly clamped a hand over her mouth to stifle any other sounds. "Let's go," Hermione said and they started back up the stairs to a door. Harry got his wand out from his jeans pocket and slowly opened the door. Inside the room was a four poster bed that looked like it would fall apart any second, and Ron, lying on the floor, holding his obviously broken leg.
"Harry, Lucy! It's a trap, he's an animagus!" Ron shouted from his spot on the ground, and pointed to a spot behind the door they had just opened. A man behind it shut the door with a slam and Harry jumped back in alarm. He grabbed Lucy and stood in front of her in a hopeless attempt at saving her. Sirius Black could blast him out of the way and get to her easily. It was like a replay of that Halloween night 12 years ago.
"Hello Harry, it's good to see you again," Sirius Black had long matted hair and was wearing filthy robes from his time in Azkaban. His face was sunken and waxy and looked like a corpse. "Expelliarmus!" Black shouted, using Ron's stolen wand to disarm Harry, Hermione, and Lucy. "I knew you would come help your friend, Harry. You're exactly like your father. Always needing to be the man of the hour." Black grumbled, staring hungrily at the students.
"Don't you talk about my father!" Harry shouted back. He wanted to kill Black right there and never before had he felt so helpless. His wand was lying feet away from him but he couldn't risk going to get it. But he needed to kill this man who had killed his parents. Then Harry remembered that just because he didn't have a wand didn't mean he couldn't attack. He lunged forward at the prison escapee but was held back by a surprisingly strong grip. It was Lucy. Ron tried to stand but winced in pain and stayed sitting.
"If you want to kill Harry, you'll have to kill all of us!" He cried, again trying to at least sit on the bed. Sirius looked at him for a second before turning back to Harry.
"Don't try to stand; you'll only make your leg worse." He muttered softly. Ron looked confused.
"Didn't you hear me? I said you'll have to kill all four of us!" He shouted. Sirius chuckled to himself, shaking his head.
"There will only be one murder tonight," He said, staring right into Harry's emerald green eyes.
"Why's that? Nothing stopped you from killing 13 muggles and Peter Pettigrew all those years ago. What's that compared to four students?" Harry said angrily, Lucy's grip tightening on his wrist.
"Harry! Don't say anything stu-" Hermione began but Harry cut her off with yelling.
"HE KILLED OUR PARENTS!" He shouted. Anger had overtaken his brain and he broke free from Lucy's killer grip. She let out a yelp while he moved towards Sirius Black. He didn't care that he was a 13 year old and Sirius was a full grown man. He was going to do this for his parents. Harry grabbed Black's wand hand and pointed the wand away from him while his other hand formed a fist and found contact with the side of Black's head. He backed into a wall that should have broken straight through since it was crumbling so much. All of a sudden, Harry saw Hermione come running and swing her leg out at Sirius. Lucy came as well, punching the man in the stomach. The four of them fell to the floor and began throwing punches and kicks. Harry saw a wand roll across the floor, away from the fight and reached out to grab it.
"Stop it!" He yelled and the witches stood up to see what was happening. Hermione stepped back, bringing Lucy with her. "It's time I avenged my parents after you murdered them!" He pointed the wand right at Black's chest. Black smiled slightly.
"I don't deny doing it Harry. But I think you need to hear the whole story before you think about killing me." He said, sitting up after being abused.
"Whole story?" Lucy spoke for the first time. Her voice shook slightly but her face was set in determination. "The whole story is that you betrayed your friends and got them killed. You deserve this," she spat. Black looked at her and something flickered in his eyes like a memory he had just come to remember.
"You both need to listen to me before you do something you'll regret. You don't understand – " He started.
"We understand more than you think. And it's for that reason that you'll die tonight!" Harry needed to do the spell but couldn't bring himself to say the words. Just do it, he thought. They stood in silence while time passed by but Harry remained frozen. He could hear Black's ragged breathing along with Ron's sharp intakes of breath. Hermione was silent and Lucy was biting her lip so hard it would start bleeding soon. Harry, just kill him, a voice screamed in Harry's head. He wanted to kill this man so badly! Suddenly, they heard muffled footsteps coming from downstairs.
"We're up here! Come quickly! Sirius Black is up here!" Hermione screamed and Black's face broke out into a look of sheer terror. They heard the footsteps climbing the stairs and burst through the door. Professor Lupin stood, white-faced and shabbier than ever. He looked from Harry to Black then pointed his wand.
"Expelliarmus!" Harry's wand left his fingertips once again. He saw the ones from Hermione, Lucy, and Ron fly into the air. They were caught by the Professor. Lupin looked down at Black.
"Where is he, Sirius?" he asked, his voice urgent. Black remained expressionless but pointed a dirty finger to Ron who had managed to hoist himself onto the bed. Ron's face, if possible, went even whiter. Harry was confused. Shouldn't Sirius be pointing at him? Ron wasn't involved in this triangle of killing. Even Lupin looked confused as he held his own wand in Ron's direction for safety. "But then, that means… he was the one… no. He can't have been… unless you switched… and I didn't know." Black nodded.
"Lupin, what's going -?" Harry tried to get the Professor to look at him but he cut him off. Lupin looked back down at Black and did the one thing none of them were expecting. He lowered his wand away from Black's chest and reached a hand out to help him up. When he'd stood, the two embraced each other like long lost brothers. Harry felt anger and confusion bubble below his skin. He needed to find out what was going on.
"I don't believe it!" Hermione shrieked. They stopped hugging as Lupin turned to face her. "All this time, I've been keeping your secret!" she cried.
"Now Hermione let me tell them. I can explain it better," Lupin tried to silence Hermione but her rant continued.
"Harry, don't trust him. He's been sneaking Black into the castle, he wants you dead and he's a… a werewolf." She said, looking down at her feet. Lupin shook his head.
"Not quite Hermione. I haven't been in contact with Black for twelve years, let alone helping him into the castle. And I for sure do not want Harry dead any more than you do. But you're right about one thing." He looked at the rest of them individually. "I am, in fact, a werewolf." Ron leapt back farther onto the bed and Harry took a few meagre steps backwards. "How long have you known?" he asked Hermione.
"Since Snape set that werewolf essay." She admitted. "I should've gone to someone about it," she added. Lupin shook his head.
"The staff all knew, you were smart to keep your mouth shut though. Some staff members would have rather I wasn't there. Some thought Dumbledore was crazy to hire me." He explained. "He had a hard time convincing some of the teachers that I was trustworthy."
"But you're not! You've been helping him!" Lucy spoke. She pointed at Black who recoiled a little at her harsh tone.
"No, I haven't. If you'll all just relax and let me explain, I'm sure you'll have different feelings toward the situation we're in." Lupin handed them their wands back and tucked his own wand away. "There, now you are armed and we are not. Now will you let me tell you what happened?" As he said this, Black walked to the four poster bed and sank into it, his head his hands. Ron edged away carefully.
Harry wasn't sure if this was a trick or not. He had a feeling it wasn't. He had to be sure though.
"How did you know he was here then?" he asked.
"I saw him on the Marauder's map. It's still in my office and I've been looking at it every evening." Lupin explained. Harry frowned.
"You know how to use it?" he asked. Lupin nodded.
"I helped make it." He said and when Harry gave him a confused look, he continued. "I'm Moony. It was my friends' nickname for me in school. I was watching it tonight because I had a feeling you four would be sneaking off to Hagrid's to see what happened to Buckbeak. I was right, wasn't I? Before you ask any more questions Harry, I'll tell you. Even under an Invisibility cloak, you still appear on the map. Don't say anything yet," Lupin held up a hand as Harry opened his mouth. "You went to Hagrid's then twenty minutes later, left but with someone else."
"We weren't with anyone else," Hermione interrupted.
"Yes you were, let me finish." He paused before continuing. "You headed up to the Whomping Willow where you were met by Sirius. He dragged two of you down into the trunk of the tree."
"No, only one of us! Only me!" Ron protested from the bed.
"Two, Ron. Can I have a look at your rat please?" he asked, holding out a hand to accept the animal.
"What does Scabbers have to do with this?" Ron asked, holding the rat nearer to his chest. Lupin moved closer as to take the rat away. He smiled.
"Everything. Just hand him over Ron, I'm not going to hurt him." Ron shook his head.
"Just tell me what my rat has to do with this." He held tightly to Scabbers who was trying to escape again. Black started to laugh hysterically. Lupin even chuckled quietly. Black recovered, wiping his sunken eyes.
"That isn't a rat my dear boy," his face became serious as he stared hungrily at Scabbers. "That's an animagus and his name is Peter Pettigrew."
Please review! I wrote this one very quickly so I apologize for any typos or grammar mistakes. I proofread it a few times so I think it should be good! Anyway, tell me what you think so far!